Interpretations

Abstract

Whilst it is relatively easy to identify the principal themes, the question of their relationship to an overall interpretation of the play remains. One point of view suggests that it is merely sensational theatre designed to shock and horrify, but saved by the splendour of the poetry. Others see the play as strongly moralistic, where the audience is invited to condemn rather than admire. A third way interprets the play as a comment on contemporary Jacobean society based on real events but distanced by its Italian setting.