Hillary M. Nunn here traces the connections between the London public's interest in medical dissection and the changing cultural significance of bloodshed on the early Stuart playhouse stage. Considering the playhouses' role within the social world of early modern London, Nunn explores the influence of public dissection upon the presentation of human bodies in well-known plays such as King Lear, as well as in a wide range of often neglected early Stuart tragedies like The Second Maiden's Tragedy and Revenge for Honour. In addition to dramatic texts, the study draws heavily on anatomy treatises and popular pamphlets of the time. Incorporating views of anatomy's significance from a wide range of sources, this study shows the ways in which early Stuart dramatists called upon Londoners' increasing fascination with anatomical dissection to shape the staging of their tragedies. 'Nunn conducts a thorough review of the secondary literature on anatomical thinking in the early modern period. For those who are not familiar with this material, she has performed a useful service by synthesizing it.' Renaissance Quarterly '... deserves to be an influential study... This often fascinating and engaging study invites related discussion for earlier Tudor literature.' The Year's Work in English Studies '... Nunn draws fascinating parallels between the performances of playwrights and anatomists... Nunn's book draws consistent and fascinating linkages between the spectacles of the laboratory and the theater.' Eighteenth-Century Studies