Affective Entanglements and Alternative Histories

Abstract

Focusing on Samuel Rowley’s 1605 play about the reign of Henry VIII, When You See Me, You Know Me , DiGangi argues that affect theory offers new resources for understanding the representation of political agency in the English history play. Rowley characterizes Henry as an unpredictable amalgam of shifting moods and affective attachments. Henry’s passionate nature at times interferes with his judgment and duties as sovereign; nonetheless, his indulgence of mirth and his openness to affective entanglements with others make him a more effective ruler. Rowley’s play suggests that “historical” narratives, even those concerned with the great figures and events of the national past, might meaningfully engage with the elusive movements of the trivial, improvisational, and everyday: realms of experience productively illuminated by affect theory. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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