Jul 24, 2008

Shakespeare's Work | Shakespeare's Treatment of Roman History

One can generally gauge the quality of Shakespeare's learning by the setting of his first tragedy, Titus Andronicus, with its amalgamation of the most popular—one might say the most vulgar—and the most sophisticated apprehensions of the glory that was Rome. It is apparent at the outset of his career that for Shakespeare Roman history comprehended more than a succession of events and that his idea of Romanitas was formed as much by literature, drama, rhetoric, and philosophy as by the Roman historians. Unlike those playwrights who set their tragedies in Spain, Malta, and...