This study focusses on Byron's largely disregarded career as a playwright and establishes
Shakespeare as an important influence on his plays. This brings them closer to stage
representa-tion although Byron himself claimed that his plays are unsuitable for the
contemporary London stage and that Shakespeare the dominant presence on said stage is the
worst of models-though the most extraordinary of writers. Following an introduction to the
Romantic stage and a brief survey of Shakespeare's status in the Romantic age and on its stage
this study analyses examples of Byron's engagement with the London stage during the years
1812-16 - his Address Spoken at the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre his friendship with Edmund
Kean as well as his time on the Drury Lane Subcommit-tee - showing that Byron is a clear
advocate for the representation of Shakespeare's plays on the contemporary stage. Next this
study reconciles Shakespeare with other elements of Byron's poetics such as neoclassicism or
the Gothic before finally demonstrating that five of Byron's plays - Manfred (1817) Marino
Faliero (1821) Sardanapalus (1821) The Two Foscari (1821) and Werner (1822) - are heavily
influenced by Shake-speare's plays and that this influence brings each play closer to
representation on the contempo-rary stage belying both of Byron's claims. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abbreviationsviii 1 Introduction1 2 Shakespeare on the Romantic Stage17 2.1 The Romantic
Stage17 2.2 Shakespeare in the Romantic Age23 2.3 Shakespeare's Plays on the Romantic Stage30 3
Byron's Engagement with the Romantic Stage41 3.1 Address Spoken at the Opening of Drury Lane
Theatre (1812)41 3.2 Byron and Edmund Kean (1814)49 3.3 Byron on the Drury Lane Subcommittee
(1815)54 4 Shakespeare in Byron's Plays60 4.1 Shakespeare in Byron's Poetics60 4.2 Manfred: A
Dramatic Poem (1817)73 4.3 Marino Faliero Doge of Venice: An Historical Tragedy (1821)97 4.4
Sardanapalus: A Tragedy (1821)135 4.5 The Two Foscari: An Historical Tragedy (1821)162 4.6
Werner: A Tragedy (1822)184 5 Conclusion203 6 Bibliography208
