Making Use of Massinger: Why We Read and the Purpose it Serves

Making Use of Massinger seeks to provide a framework by which educators can facilitate more meaningful discussion about premodern and early modern texts including playwrights like Shakespeare and Phillip Massinger. Establishing modes of engaging with literature (and thus the uses of literature) from the scholarship of Dr. Rita Felski and Dr. Ayanna Thompson, this project analyzes a study conducted by Haley Rominger on ASU undergraduate students on their reactions to Phillip Massinger's play "The Roman Actor". Ultimately this study showed that a deeper dialogue was attained in discussing topics that had modern implications such as race, gender, and power dynamics.