William Shakespeare Criticism
William Shakespeare's works have long captivated audiences and scholars alike with their intricate examinations of human behavior and societal norms. Central to his literary mastery is the theme of deception, which Shakespeare weaves through character interactions and linguistic prowess. Scholars such as Shirley Nelson Garner have identified a recurring exploration of male anxieties about female fidelity in plays like Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale. These anxieties often lead male characters to retreat into male camaraderie, revealing a deeper fear of betrayal.
Another layer of deception in Shakespeare's canon is self-deception. In Henry VI, Hugh Dickinson highlights characters' delusions regarding their capabilities, while in Love's Labour's Lost, Cyrus Hoy discusses their journeys toward self-awareness. The theme continues in Macbeth, where Barbara L. Parker observes the damaging illusions of power.
Language itself becomes a tool for deception, as seen in Henry IV with Falstaff's "counterfeiting," explored by James L. Calderwood. In King Lear, Jean MacIntyre illustrates how deceiving through language facilitates crucial self-discovery. Similarly, Russ McDonald analyzes this manipulation in Richard III.
Shakespeare also engages in deception of his audience, as detailed by Trevor McNeely, who explores the use of rhetoric in Othello to render improbable events believable. This technique is further analyzed by Michèle Willems, who considers Henry IV as a morality play that conceals subversive political commentary.
Shakespeare's portrayal of gender, primarily viewed through a male lens, often casts women as archetypal figures. Paula S. Berggren discusses their mythic qualities, while Linda Bamber notes their static roles in comedies. Conversely, Coppélla Kahn examines how male assertiveness can lead to disaster, as in Macbeth and Coriolanus.
In his romances, Shakespeare employs androgyny to allow women to assert themselves, often while disguised as men, a theme explored by Juliet Dusinberre. However, Jean E. Howard argues that these gender inversions ultimately reaffirm traditional norms. The treatment of gender varies by genre, as Barbara J. Bono and Carol Thomas Neely discuss in their examinations of comedic and tragic elements in plays like As You Like It and Antony and Cleopatra.
The theme of appearance versus reality is another cornerstone of Shakespeare's oeuvre. His plays often blur the line between truth and illusion, as seen in Othello and the hallucinations of Macbeth. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, as noted by Alex Aronson, the interplay between the real and the mythical highlights the theatricality of reality. Theatrical conventions of the Elizabethan era, where male actors portrayed female characters, further complicate issues of sexual identity and power dynamics, as explored by Susan Baker and Nancy K. Hayles. As suggested by M.C. Bradbrook, the use of disguise serves both narrative and thematic functions, probing societal constructs of gender and power.
Contents
- Sir John Oldcastle and the Construction of Shakespeare's Authorship
- Selected Studies of Shakespearean Production
- Mixed Verse and Prose in Shakespearean Comedy
- Peter Quince's Ballad: Shakespeare, Psychoanalysis, History
- Shakespeare's Bed-Tricks
- Knowing aforehand: Audience Preparation and the Comedies of Shakespeare
- The Adoption of Abominable Terms: The Insults That Shape Windsor's Middle Class
- Hydra and Rhizome
- Broken English and Broken Irish: Nation, Language, and the Optic of Power in Shakespeare's Histories
- Word Itself against the Word: Close Reading After Voloshinov
- Shakespeare at Work: 'Attributed Dialogue'
- The Open Worlde: The Exotic in Shakespeare
- Mixing Memory and Desire: Notes for a Psychodynamic Exploration of Shakespeare
- Racial Discourse: Black and White
- The Scandal of Shakespeare's Sonnets
- Theatrical Italics
- Rethinking Gender and Genre in the History Play
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Shakespeare's Historicism: Visions and Revisions
(summary)
The essay examines the contentious debate surrounding Shakespeare's historical plays, focusing on how their interpretations have evolved over time to reflect varying political and ideological perspectives, while addressing the persistent view of Shakespeare as a conservative figure, championing traditional social hierarchies, despite challenges to this perception by recent critical methodologies.
- Marxist Criticism: Cultural Materialism, and the History of the Subject
- Food for Words: Hotspur and the Discourse of Honor
- Errors and Labors: Feminism and Early Shakespearean Comedy
- Breaking the Illusion of Being: Shakespeare and the Performance of Self
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Appearance vs. Reality
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Overviews
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Shakespeare and the Use of Disguise in Elizabethan Drama
(summary)
In the following essay, Bradbrook discusses the dramatic conventions that may have influenced Shakespeare's frequent use of disguise.
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Sexual Disguise in As You Like It and Twelfth Night
(summary)
In the following essay, Hayles compares Shakespeare's use of sexual disguise in As You Like It and Twelfth Night, concluding that his use of the device progressed from investigating the ramifications of role-playing to questioning the very nature of sex and gender.
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Shakespeare and the Use of Disguise in Elizabethan Drama
(summary)
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Seeing / (Dis)Believing
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Shakespeare and the Ocular Proof
(summary)
In the following essay, Aronson surveys Shakespeare's plays and concludes that "the choice between the eye and the mind, between the ocular proof and spiritual awareness which Shakespeare's characters are compelled to make, is of the very essence of his tragic vision."
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The Figure of Woman
(summary)
In the essay that follows, Davis examines Shakespeare's use of transsexual disguise.
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Shakespeare and the Ocular Proof
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Theatrical Deception
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Personating Persons: Rethinking Shakespearean Disguises
(summary)
In the following essay, Baker discusses Shakespeare's treatment of rank and power in terms of his characters ' changing personages, concluding that the grounds of power remain fixed within a natural hierarchy.
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'Who Is't Can Read a Woman?': Rhetoric and Gender in Venus and Adonis, Measure for Measure, and All's Well That Ends Well
(summary)
In the excerpt that follows, Desmet examines Shakespeare's treatment of disguised female characters in Venus and Adonis, Measure for Measure, and All's Well That Ends Well. The editors have included only those footnotes that pertain to the excerpted portion of the essay.
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Personating Persons: Rethinking Shakespearean Disguises
(summary)
- Further Reading
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Overviews
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Beginnings and Endings
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's plays are renowned for their complex beginnings and endings, which have captivated audiences and elicited extensive scholarly analysis. Critics often approach these plays by considering the experience of the audience, particularly those unfamiliar with Shakespeare's work. The opening scenes of his plays frequently contain ambiguous or incomplete information, creating a sense of uncertainty that directors often exploit, as noted by A. D. Nuttall. Conversely, some critics like M. J. B. Allen suggest that these openings provide subtle premonitions of the narratives' conclusions.
Shakespeare's endings are equally complex, often playing upon audience expectations and employing dramatic conventions in innovative ways, as observed by Bernard Beckerman. The conclusions of his comedies, in particular, have prompted debate. While earlier critics emphasized their harmonizing nature, more recent analysis by scholars like Jean E. Howard and Ejner J. Jensen highlights unresolved tensions and complexities, challenging the notion of seamless closure.
Shakespeare's tragedies also reveal a dynamic relationship between their beginnings and endings. Critic William C. Carroll notes the pervasive fatalism in Romeo and Juliet, while Robert F. Willson, Jr. discusses the thematic echoes in Hamlet's final scene. Similarly, Thomas Clayton explores how the ending of Othello reinforces the protagonist's sympathetic portrayal. King Lear stands out for its intense critical focus. Scholars like Derek Peat and Stephen Booth point to the overwhelming emotional impact of its conclusion, while Phoebe S. Spinrad suggests it offers a unique cathartic experience.
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The Opening of All's Well That Ends Well: A Performance Approach
(summary)
In the following essay, Styan focuses on Shakespeare's stagecraft in the first scene of All's Well that Ends Well. He calls attention to specific ways in which the text underscores—and actors and directors may further highlight—Helena's grief and isolation. In addition, Styan maintains that the alternation of romance and realism that occurs throughout the play is first manifested in its opening lines.
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The Beginnings of Pericles, Henry VIII, and Two Noble Kinsmen
(summary)
In the following essay, the critic examines the prologues and epilogues of Shakespeare's plays Pericles, Henry VIII, and The Two Noble Kinsmen, arguing that while these prologues serve as moral guides, they also encourage audiences to draw their own conclusions about the narratives presented.
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Tragic Death and Dull Survival
(summary)
The critic examines the concluding scenes of Shakespeare's tragedies, highlighting recurring elements such as the tragic characters' acceptance of death, their isolation, the establishment of a new societal order, and the uninspiring nature of those who govern post-tragedy, while also noting deviations in plays like Troilus and Cressida, and the influence of sexual love in certain tragic endings.
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Hamlet: The Duel Within
(summary)
In the following essay, the critic analyzes the final scene of Hamlet, arguing that it reiterates motifs and themes from the play's beginning, particularly highlighting Hamlet's transformation into a stoic character and the complex interplay of revenge and justice depicted in the duel with Laertes.
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That's she that was myself: Not-so-famous Last Words and Some Ends of Othello
(summary)
In the essay, the critic examines the final couplets of Desdemona and Othello in Shakespeare's Othello, arguing that these lines serve as affirmations of their united identity through love, enhancing the portrayal of Othello as a sympathetic character and inviting audiences to reflect on Shakespeare's intentional design.
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‘We were born to die’: Romeo and Juliet
(summary)
In the following essay, Carroll argues that the ending of Romeo and Juliet is announced at the beginning, and is repeatedly articulated in succeeding scenes. Pointing out significant deviations between the final scene of Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare's principal source—The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet—Carroll proposes that Shakespeare wanted to emphasize there is no escape from the tomb for the young lovers and that the only satisfactory means of memorializing their love is through dramatic representation.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Beginnings: Overviews
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Shakespeare's Tragic Prefigures
(summary)
In the essay below, Willson asserts that the opening scenes of Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth are, in effect, prophetic interludes. Willson argues that Shakespeare raises significant symbolic or thematic issues in each of these scenes by introducing a character—specifically, Horatio, Brabantio, France, and Cawdor—whose actions at the beginning of the play foreshadow the conduct of the tragic hero in a subsequent, climactic episode.
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Toys, Prologues and the Great Amiss: Shakespeare's Tragic Openings
(summary)
In the following essay, Allen comments on the diverse openings of eight plays—Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet—with particular emphasis on the degree to which the ending of each tragedy is inherent in its beginning. Allen apportions the fullest coverage to the opening scenes of Macbeth, which he judges to be the most dense and profound of all Shakespeare's beginnings.
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Some Shakespearean Openings: Hamlet, Twelfth Night, The Tempest
(summary)
In the essay below, Nuttall evaluates the opening scenes of Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and the Tempest in terms of the challenge presented to Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists by the absence of a distinct, visual threshold between the playgoers and the actors on stage. He demonstrates how, in the early lines of these three plays, Shakespeare exploits this drawback—even heightens the sense of uncertainty—by creating openings that emphasize the indeterminacy of the dramatic action.
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‘Beginners, Please’; or, First Start Your Play
(summary)
In this essay, first delivered as a lecture in Vienna in April 1992, Smallwood describes a series of Royal Shakespeare Company productions in which directors prefaced the first lines of text with various devices designed to promote specific interpretations, create atmosphere, or lead the audience into the world of the play. The critic points out that each of these techniques evokes the same question: where does a play begin?
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Shakespeare's Tragic Prefigures
(summary)
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Criticism: Endings: Overviews
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‘You that way; we this way’: Shakespeare's Endings
(summary)
In this essay, Craik considers the manner in which Shakespeare employs stage directions and concluding couplets to achieve a sense of finality at the conclusion of a play's performance. Craik is particularly concerned here with the tragedies and the histories, but he also calls attention to the formal and informal epilogues of some of the comedies.
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Shakespeare Closing
(summary)
In the following essay, Beckerman surveys the final scenes of Shakespeare's comedies, tragedies, and histories. In his analysis of these, he distinguishes between the resolution (how the narrative is unraveled) and the closing (the particular way the playwright conveys the sense of an ending.) Beckerman emphasizes that with regard to each of the dramatic genres, Shakespeare transformed the principles of accepted dramatic conventions even as he ostensibly observed them.
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‘You that way; we this way’: Shakespeare's Endings
(summary)
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Criticism: Endings: Comedies
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Patterns of Resolution in Shakespeare's Comedies
(summary)
In the excerpt below, Jagendorf analyzes the discovery scenes in The Merchant of Venice, All's Well That Ends Well, and Measure for Measure in the context of the comic conventions of recapitulation and return. In each of these plays, Jagendorf notes, the final scenes are preceded by ones which feature a real or proposed substitution that complicates the plot; the satisfactory consequences of these exchanges, the critic maintains, are then revealed in trial-like, concluding episodes.
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The Sense of an Ending in Shakespeare's Early Comedies
(summary)
In this essay, Curren Aquino discusses the concluding scenes of The Taming of the Shrew and Love's Labor's Lost. She judges that in each instance, the final scene effectively crystallizes the themes, imagery, characterization, and dramatic action of the play as a whole.
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The Difficulties of Closure: An Approach to the Problematic in Shakespearian Comedy
(summary)
In the essay that follows, Howard challenges theories of comic structure which assert that Shakespeare's comedies inevitably conclude with the restoration of social order and the harmonizing of disruptive or contradictory elements. Focusing on the final scenes of The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, and The Merchant of Venice, Howard proposes that in these scenes Shakespeare interrogates comic conventions to demonstrate the hazards audiences will encounter if they ignore or suppress features of a play that cannot be reconciled with a single, all-inclusive interpretation.
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Crowning the End: The Aggrandizement of Closure in the Reading of Shakespeare's Comedies
(summary)
In the following essay, Jensen contends that late twentieth-century commentators have placed too much emphasis on closure in Shakespeare's comedies. He believes they have evaluated Shakespeare's comic endings more rigorously than those of his predecessors and contemporaries, tied the plays' meanings too closely to their endings, and disregarded complexities in the final scenes that run counter to a unified interpretation. In the course of his argument, Jensen provides a detailed review of orthodox positions regarding the “festive” endings of Shakespeare's romantic comedies, and recent critical emphasis on the dark or problematic conclusions of these plays.
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Patterns of Resolution in Shakespeare's Comedies
(summary)
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Criticism: Endings: King Lear
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‘And that's true too’: King Lear and the Tension of Uncertainty
(summary)
In the following essay, Peat focuses on the ambiguities and mounting anxiety in the final scene of King Lear. Audience response to this scene repeatedly alternates between hope and despair. Peat asserts that spectators with no previous knowledge of the play would be thoroughly confused by the tumultuous events taking place on stage during this scene, and would become so emotionally involved that it would be impossible for them to serenely view the deaths of Lear and Cordelia as signs of affirmation or renewal. Peat's discussion of confusion and uncertainty in King Lear also includes an analysis of the Dover Cliff scene.
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The Promised End
(summary)
In the excerpt below, Booth proposes that the ending of King Lear is terrifying because Shakespeare renders us powerless to call on any of the usual defenses by which we might avoid confronting it directly. Before Lear enters with Cordelia in his arms, the play has reached a formal conclusion, the critic points out, and, like the characters on stage, we have been so caught up in other events that we have forgotten about the King and his daughter. Unprepared for the narrative to continue—particularly in such a shocking fashion—we cannot set the ending apart, confine it, or comprehend it.
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Dramatic ‘Pity’ and the Death of Lear
(summary)
In this essay, Spinrad maintains that no formal dramatic theory or convention can adequately explain why the death of Lear is so profoundly moving. We weep, she suggests, because his death arouses our compassion: we feel that his suffering was undeserved.
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‘And that's true too’: King Lear and the Tension of Uncertainty
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Compounding Errors
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors is presented as a foundational model of his dramatic technique, weaving together narrative, poetic, and social elements. This play exemplifies Shakespeare's innovative approach to narrative, where he engages with and revitalizes existing stories within the context of professional theater. Shakespeare's work reflects a "revisionary conservatism," allowing him to critically analyze and regenerate inherited plots for contemporary audiences. As noted in T. G. Bishop's examination, the play's conclusion invokes a sense of wonder, a dramatic element that Shakespeare reintegrates to showcase his narrative prowess. This spectacle of wonder emerges from the tension between skepticism and the creative transformation of narrative fragments, ultimately affirming the power and potential of dramatic storytelling in Shakespeare's oeuvre.
- I
- II
- III
- IV
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Introduction
(summary)
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Death
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's exploration of death permeates his plays, presenting it as a central theme with varied interpretations across genres. In his tragedies, Shakespeare often challenges the ars moriendi tradition, emphasizing the ambiguity and complexity of final moments. Karl S. Guthke observes this challenge in the way Shakespeare defies the conventional perception of last words as prophetic, while T.W. Craik highlights the reversals of hope and despair in final scenes. Susan Snyder suggests that tragedy's primary role is to protest the unavoidable nature of death, a theme vividly portrayed in the deaths of Lear and Cordelia in King Lear. As noted by Susan Snyder, Lear dies with a sense of grace, contrasting with Cordelia's tragic end, which evokes a monstrous sense of death.
In Hamlet, the encounter between Hamlet and the gravedigger reflects on the leveling nature of death, as analyzed by Michael Cohen, who discusses the social implications of mortality. Similarly, Falstaff’s death in Henry V, as evaluated by Paul M. Cubeta, is imbued with moral ambiguity. In 1 Henry VI, Alexander Leggatt views the deaths of Lord Talbot and his son as emblematic of personal and historical tragedies.
Shakespeare’s comedies, such as Measure for Measure and The Winter's Tale, incorporate death as an implicit theme. Marjorie Garber notes that while death occurs offstage, its inevitability is acknowledged throughout these works. This recognition is crucial in shaping the narrative and character development, with Phoebe Spinrad analyzing Measure for Measure’s prison scene as a reflection of repentance and acceptance of mortality.
Ultimately, Shakespeare’s treatment of death is multifaceted, ranging from literal portrayals in tragedies to symbolic reflections in comedies. His works continue to provoke discussions on the nature of mortality, as they intertwine existential questions with dramatic storytelling, challenging audiences to consider the profound impact of life’s inevitable end.
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I Know When One Is Dead, and When One Lives
(summary)
In the following essay, originally presented in 1979, Craik reviews the final scene in King Lear together with scenes in other plays where Shakespeare treats life and death with dramatic ambiguity.
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Dualism and the Hope of Reunion in The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following essay, Marshall argues that the statue scene in The Winter's Tale suggests a modification of orthodox Christian eschatology by denying the dualism of body and soul. Relating this scene to a sixteenth-century heresy known as mortalism—which held that both soul and body were dead until judgment day, when both would be resurrected—Marshall emphasizes the communal as well as the miraculous nature of Hermione's reanimation.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Comedies
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Wild Laughter in the Throat of Death
(summary)
In the following essay, Garber argues that although no character introduced into a Shakespearean comedy ever dies, the knowledge that death molds and informs life is implicit in every one of them.
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Measure for Measure and the Art of Not Dying
(summary)
In the following essay, Spinrad analyzes the eventual acceptance of death as a part of life by the major characters in Measure for Measure. The critic examines this acceptance in terms of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century religious writings that view life on earth as a form of imprisonment, and pays particular attention to Claudio's conduct in the prison scene (Act III, scene i).
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Wild Laughter in the Throat of Death
(summary)
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Criticism: Histories
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King of Tears: Mortality in Richard II
(summary)
In the following essay, Kehler emphasizes the tragic and psychological aspects of Richard II as she traces the king's emotional journey from a conviction that he is invulnerable to a recognition of his mortality.
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Falstaff and the Art of Dying
(summary)
In the essay below, Cubeta evaluates the secondhand account of Falstaff's death in Henry V (II.iii) with particular reference to fifteenth- and sixteenth-century religious writings on how one should prepare for final judgment. Noting that Falstaff has always been more interested in the art of living than the art of dying, Cubeta relates the spiritual ambiguity of the fat knight's death to the moral ambiguity of his life.
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The Death of John Talbot
(summary)
In the following essay, Leggatt evaluates the deaths of Lord Talbot and his son John in 1 Henry VI as Shakespeare's earliest portrayal of tragic heroes meeting their end.
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King of Tears: Mortality in Richard II
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Criticism: Tragedies
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An Art of Dying
(summary)
In the essay below, Foreman diagrams the variety of ways in which Shakespeare's tragic protagonists meet their ends. Looking closely at the deaths of the central characters in both the minor and major tragedies, he considers the depth of the characters' understanding of themselves and the world, their sense of identity, their will to be in control of their fates, and the creativity of their confrontations with death.
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King Lear and the Psychology of Dying
(summary)
In the following essay, which is informed by psychoanalytic theory and the writings of such twentieth-century students of death and dying as Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Snyder reads King Lear as a representation of the process of dying. She traces the king's journey as he responds to his imminent mortality with denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance of the inevitable. She then declares that the play's final scene reflects the paradox of mortality—that it is 'both unnatural and inevitable.'
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‘To what base uses we may return’: Class and Mortality in Hamlet (5.1)
(summary)
In the essay below, Cohen assesses the encounter between Hamlet and the gravedigger, reading it as a debate about whether death levels all social and economic distinctions.
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The Passing of King Lear
(summary)
In the following essay, Kirby analyzes the moment of Lear's death in terms of medieval Christian thought and Shakespeare's stagecraft, contending that even though providence does not preserve Lear and Cordelia in the temporal sense, the king dies suffused with joy and in a state of grace. Kirby also discusses the deaths of the villainous characters in the play, as well as those of Gloucester, Kent, and Cordelia.
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Last Words in Shakespeare's Plays: The Challenge to the Ars Moriendi Tradition
(summary)
In the following essay, Guthke examines the death scenes of several principal Shakespearean characters, and maintains that Shakespeare repeatedly questions the traditional idea that a dying individual's last words reveal whether that person will be damned or saved. The critic argues that Shakespeare contests this belief by assigning these characters death speeches that focus on this world rather than the hereafter—or giving them no last words at all.
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Shakespeare, Hypnos, and Thanatos: Romeo and Juliet in the Space of Myth
(summary)
In the essay below, Maguin calls attention to parallels between Romeo and Juliet and the classical legend of Psyche and Cupid, which, like the play, conflates sleep, death, and the allure of love and suicide.
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An Art of Dying
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Deception in Shakespeare's Plays
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The Language Of Deception
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Henry IV: Art's Gilded Lie
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In the following essay, Calderwood studies the way in which Falstaff's language in 1 Henry IV seems to refer as much to the 'counterfeiting' or deception practiced by actors as it does to his own actions within the play.
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Truth, Lies, and Poesie in King Lear
(summary)
In the essay below, MacIntyre examines the deceptions practiced by Kent and Edgar in King Lear as fictions that allow Lear and Gloucester to comprehend and accept their own misdeeds and identities. MacIntyre argues that the play demonstrates the usefulness of fiction, or poesy, and represents in some ways Shakespeare's defense of his work.
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Richard III and the Tropes of Treachery
(summary)
In the essay that follows, McDonald demonstrates that the discourse in Richard III is laden with deceptive elements, particularly puns or other rhetorical structures, which drastically change the meaning of the language used.
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Henry IV: Art's Gilded Lie
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Male Fear Of Deception
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Male Bonding and the Myth of Women's Deception in Shakespeare's Plays
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In the following essay, originally presented in 1985, Garner examines the pattern of male suspicion of female infidelity in Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale, arguing that the fear of being deceived manifests itself in the physical or verbal abuse of women, followed by the reassertion of male bonds.
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Male Bonding and the Myth of Women's Deception in Shakespeare's Plays
(summary)
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Self-Deception
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Shakespeare's Henry Yea and Nay
(summary)
In the essay below, Dickinson studies the way in which King Henry, of the Henry VI plays, deceives himself into thinking that he is a capable ruler. The critic demonstrates that this self-deception is maintained until the King's impulsive and inconsistent actions reveal his weak will.
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Love's Labour's Lost and the Nature of Comedy
(summary)
In the essay that follows, Hoy maintains that the action of Love's Labour's Lost focuses on the process of 'undeceiving the self-deceived,' noting that Shakespeare's comedy in general is aimed at dismantling deceptions for the purpose of self knowledge.
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Macbeth: The Great Illusion
(summary)
In the following essay, Parker argues that self-deception, such as Macbeth's delusion that he can defy destiny, is a main theme of Macbeth, and that Shakespeare presents the characters and action in the play in contradictory terms in support of this theme.
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The Vision of Twelfth Night
(summary)
In the following essay, Dennis suggests that the self-deceptions practiced by Orsino and Olivia in Twelfth Night are both related to vanity, specifically as self-glorification in Orsino's case and narcissism in Olivia's case.
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Shakespeare's Henry Yea and Nay
(summary)
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Shakespeare's Deception Of His Audience
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Supersubtle Shakespeare: Othello as a Rhetorical Allegory
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In the following essay, McNeely analyzes Othello as Shakespeare's allegory on the power of rhetoric to deceive. McNeely observes that just as Iago dupes Othello, Shakespeare dupes his audiences and critics, persuading us to believe in the plausibility of the story, rather than its essential absurdity.
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Misconstruction in I Henry IV
(summary)
In the following essay, Willems suggests that Shakespeare encourages a misreading of 1 Henry IV as a traditional morality play, when in actuality Shakespeare uses Prince Hal to examine the ramifications of political ideas that likely would have been viewed as subversive if Shakespeare had explored such concepts directly.
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Supersubtle Shakespeare: Othello as a Rhetorical Allegory
(summary)
- Further Reading
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The Language Of Deception
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Desire
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Introduction
(summary)
Desire, a pervasive theme in William Shakespeare's works, manifests in various forms across his poetry and drama, captivating scholars for decades. This theme is particularly evident in Venus and Adonis, Troilus and Cressida, the Sonnets, and Othello, and even extends to plays like Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Comedy of Errors. Desire often appears as an unfulfillable passion, leading to destruction, as seen in Venus and Adonis, where the unrestrained lust of Venus culminates in Adonis's death, creating a dichotomy between love and beauty, as noted in works by Catherine Belsey and William Keach. Similarly, in Romeo and Juliet, Lloyd Davis highlights desire as both ideal and tragic, resulting in self-devouring love.
The destructive nature of obsessive desire, including lust and jealousy, is further explored in Shakespeare's sonnets and later plays. Joseph Pequigney analyzes the depiction of lust in the Sonnets, unveiling its corrupting impact on the body and soul. Lawrence Danson examines male jealousy within marriage in Othello and Cymbeline, presenting desire as a force linked to masculine control over femininity.
Shakespeare's use of desire as a metaphor is another rich area of study. René Girard and Valerie Traub investigate its symbolic functions in Troilus and Cressida. Girard considers desire as mimetic, driven by envy and loss, while Traub interprets it through the imagery of disease, notably syphilis, illustrating the anxieties surrounding physical and emotional exchanges. In The Comedy of Errors, Jonathan Hall explores mercantile metaphors of desire, examining its impact on personal identity. These varied investigations underscore the complexity and significance of desire in Shakespeare's oeuvre.
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Unfulfilled Desire
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Venus and Adonis
(summary)
In the following essay, Keach analyzes the ironic imagery and erotic motivations of character in Venus and Adonis, examining the poem's insight into the turbulence and frustration of sexual love.
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Love as Trompe-l'oeil: Taxonomies of Desire in Venus and Adonis
(summary)
In the essay, below, Belsey studies Venus and Adonis as a "literary trompe-l'oeil, a text of and about desire" that "promises a definitive account of love" but withholds it.
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'Death-Marked Love': Desire and Presence in Romeo and Juliet
(summary)
In this essay, Davis notes "the interplay between passion, selfhood and death" in Romeo and Juliet, a play about "the outcome of unfulfillable desire."
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Venus and Adonis
(summary)
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Obsessive Desire: Jealousy And Lust
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The Action of Lust
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Pequigney observes the mechanisms of lust in Shakespeare's Sonnets 127-32 and 144-7. Possibly no single poem in Shakespeare's sonnet sequence is more imperative for understanding it holistically than Sonnet 129, "The expense of spirit." This key sonnet defines the central theme of Part II as lust, and sheds light on its arrangement of sonnets. This sonnet is the third one of Part II, and the first two—127 and 128—prepare the way for it in the course of introducing the secondary subject of the Sonnets, the liaison with the mistress.
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'The Catastrophe is a Nuptial': The Space of Masculine Desire in Othello, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the essay below, Danson discusses male jealousy and sexual possessiveness in Othello, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale.
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The Action of Lust
(summary)
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Desire As Metaphor
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Mercantilism and Desire in The Comedy of Errors
(summary)
Here, Hall investigates Shakespeare's mercantile metaphors of desire and their relation to the construction of personal identity in The Comedy of Errors.
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Mercantilism and Desire in The Comedy of Errors
(summary)
- Further Reading
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Introduction
(summary)
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Dreams in Shakespeare
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's works are renowned for their intricate use of dreams, reflecting both the common theatrical motif of the English Renaissance and his unique innovation in character and plot development. In plays such as The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, dreams shape fantastical worlds that captivate audiences, while in historical plays like Henry VI and Richard III, dreams are often premonitions of future events. In tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear, dreams and visions frequently herald supernatural occurrences, adding layers of psychological depth and foreshadowing.
Modern critics, such as Frankie Rubinstein, have analyzed these dream motifs through the lens of psychoanalysis, identifying Shakespeare's works as precursors to Freudian dream theory. Kay Stockholder explored the intertwining of violence and sexuality in Macbeth, revealing deep-seated motivations within the protagonist’s subconscious. Similarly, Terrence N. Tice examined the psychological implications of Calphurnia's dream in Julius Caesar as a reflection of depression, while Joseph Westlund interpreted Posthumus's dream in Cymbeline as a search for psychological wholeness.
Critics also explore the narrative potential of dreams as seen in Kay Stockholder's reading of The Merchant of Venice as a dreamscape imagined by Portia's deceased father, revealing the play's underlying themes of wealth and desire. In another example, Simon O. Lesser interpreted Macbeth as an exploration of the protagonist's repressed dreams and fantasies. Finally, Marjorie Garber highlighted the blurred lines between dream and reality in tragedies, emphasizing their symbolic significance in reflecting the internal psychological states of characters.
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Overviews: Dreams And Psychoanalysis
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Shakespeare's Dream-Stuff: A Forerunner of Freud's 'Dream Material'
(summary)
In the following essay, Rubinstein explores the dream language and imagery of Shakespeare's dramas and the relation of these to Freudian psychoanalysis.
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Calphurnia's Dream and Communication with the Audience in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
(summary)
In the following essay, Tice comments on the importance of Calphurnia's dream in Julius Caesar, especially as it is used to communicate the psychological state of depression to the viewing audience.
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Dreaming of Death: Love and Money in The Merchant of Venice
(summary)
In the following essay, originally written in 1991, Stockholder reads The Merchant of Venice as the dream of Portia's dead father in order to unravel the play's psychological and social concerns with wealth and sexual desire.
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Shakespeare's Dream-Stuff: A Forerunner of Freud's 'Dream Material'
(summary)
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Dreams And Imagination
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A Dagger of the Mind: Dream and 'Conscience' in the Tragedies
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Garber analyzes the blurring of dream and reality in the tragedies Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra.
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'Begot of Nothing?': Dreams and Imagination in Romeo and Juliet
(summary)
In the following essay, Holmer examines Romeo and Juliet, investigating Shakespeare's imaginative transmutation of Thomas Nashe's ideas on dreams and dreaming in the play.
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A Dagger of the Mind: Dream and 'Conscience' in the Tragedies
(summary)
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Dreams And Violence: Macbeth
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Macbeth: Drama and Dream
(summary)
In the following essay, Lesser argues that Macbeth is to a great degree written in "the language of the unconscious," and interprets the play as a dramatization of "its protagonist's dreams, fantasies, and thoughts."
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Macbeth'. A Dream of Love
(summary)
In the following essay, Stockholder discusses the dream-like mingling of sexuality and violence in Macbeth.
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Macbeth: Drama and Dream
(summary)
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Posthumus's Dream: Cymbeline
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Dreams as History: The Strange Unity of Cymbeline
(summary)
In the following essay, Landry examines the thematic link between dreams and the historical unity of Cymbeline.
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Self and Self-validation in a Stage Character: A Shakespearean Use of Dream
(summary)
In the following essay, Westlund studies the psychological changes precipitated by Posthumus's dream in Cymbeline.
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Dreams as History: The Strange Unity of Cymbeline
(summary)
- Further Reading
-
Introduction
(summary)
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Family
-
Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's exploration of family dynamics is a central theme throughout his works, spanning genres such as tragedy, history, and romance. Scholars argue that family relations are a fundamental element in at least two-thirds of Shakespeare's plays, if not the entire canon. In tragedies like Hamlet and King Lear, Shakespeare delves into the complexities of familial interaction. Hamlet portrays a young prince's struggle with familial betrayal, while King Lear explores the catastrophic consequences of a father's misguided love for his daughter. Critics like Derek Brewer have analyzed how plays such as Hamlet, King Lear, and Cymbeline portray family drama as an archetypal narrative driven by psychological, social, and cultural forces (Some Examples from Shakespeare). Meanwhile, Bruce Young has highlighted the genuine expressions of love in parental blessings, countering traditional patriarchal readings (Parental Blessings in Shakespeare's Plays).
C. L. Barber's work has been instrumental in discussing the dissolution of familial bonds in Shakespeare's tragedies, focusing on the failure of Christian rituals in family interactions (The Family in Shakespeare's Development: Tragedy and Sacredness). Thomas McFarland further examines King Lear as a representation of the tragic potential inherent in family relationships, noting Lear's dual role as king and father (The Image of the Family in King Lear). In contrast, Shakespeare's romances, such as Pericles and The Tempest, offer redemptive visions of family, where love and reconciliation are possible. Coppélia Kahn explores how these late plays depict male protagonists' desire to reconcile familial constraints with a wish for nurturing love (The Providential Tempest and the Shakespearean Family).
In his history plays, Shakespeare uses the family to parallel political themes, as noted by Robert B. Pierce, who examines how familial stability in these plays reflects and supports political order (Conclusion). Marianne Novy discusses themes of substitute parenting and familial recognition in plays like Pericles, highlighting complex social dynamics within these familial narratives (Multiple Parenting in Pericles).
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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Some Examples from Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Brewer analyzes the dynamics of the Shakespearean family drama, using Hamlet, King Lear, and Cymbeline as representative examples.
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Shakespeare and Emotional Distance in the Elizabethan Family
(summary)
In the following essay, Novy probes the issue of emotional barriers between family members in Shakespeare's plays.
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Parental Blessings in Shakespeare's Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, Young studies the ways in which parental blessings in Shakespearean drama reflect early modern attitudes toward parents and children, and argues that Shakespeare's blessings, rather than simply reiterating patriarchal authority, often symbolize love and familial affection.
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Some Examples from Shakespeare
(summary)
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Criticism: Shakespeare's Tragic Families
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The Family in Shakespeare's Development: Tragedy and Sacredness
(summary)
In the following essay, originally published in 1976, Barber argues that Shakespeare offered a “post-Christian” resolution to the symbolic representation of family interaction in his tragedies, particularly in King Lear.
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The Image of the Family in King Lear
(summary)
In the following essay, McFarland considers the dramatization of family structure in King Lear.
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Chastened Children: Family as Metaphor in Romeo and Juliet
(summary)
In the following essay, James interprets Shakespeare's demonstration of family conflict in Romeo and Juliet as a metaphorical study of disobedience and strife among young and old.
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The Family in Shakespeare's Development: Tragedy and Sacredness
(summary)
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Criticism: The Family In Shakespearean History And Romance
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Conclusion
(summary)
In the following essay, Pierce summarizes Shakespeare's representation of the family in his English history plays, emphasizing the importance of the family as a human institution and its role in the context of the public life and political concerns of Elizabethan England.
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The Providential Tempest and the Shakespearean Family
(summary)
In the following essay, Kahn investigates the role of the family in the process of male identity construction as depicted in five Shakespearean romances.
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Multiple Parenting in Pericles
(summary)
In the following essay, Novy discusses thematic issues associated with family separation and recognition, and the social dynamics of child development suggested by the presence of substitute parents in Pericles and two of Shakespeare's other late romances.
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Conclusion
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Fate and Fortune
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's exploration of fate and fortune as significant forces in human life is a recurring theme across his works, encompassing tragedies, comedies, and histories. These elements often intertwine with notions of divine providence and human free will, challenging characters with their unpredictable nature. In plays like Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare examines how these forces dictate outcomes, as observed in Waddington's analysis of fortune, justice, and Cupid in determining character fates. In Twelfth Night, fortune tests characters' virtues, as noted by Field, illustrating a blend of medieval and Renaissance ideas.
Shakespeare's tragedies, including Macbeth and King Lear, often depict the wheel of fortune as a central motif, symbolizing the cyclical nature of fate, as explored by Fabiny. These works balance destiny, chance, and personal choice, revealing how characters navigate their fortunes. In Macbeth, the conflict between divine will and free will is critically examined by O'Rourke, while Harper contrasts cinematic interpretations that emphasize either character or fate.
In Antony and Cleopatra and other Roman plays, Shakespeare portrays a pre-Christian world where characters are ensnared by the capriciousness of fortune, drawing from Plutarch’s depiction of an unstable goddess, as noted by Lloyd. Here, the goddess Fortune dominates, presenting a volatile environment where rulers like Antony become victims of their reliance on chance, as explored by Williamson and Hallett. Ultimately, Shakespeare's dramatic engagement with fate and fortune reflects a complex interplay of moral, philosophical, and existential themes that continue to inspire scholarly debate and interpretation.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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Fortune and Occasion in Shakespeare: Richard II, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet
(summary)
In the following essay, Kiefer surveys the interaction of fortune and occasion in Shakespearean tragedy, focusing on three tragic Shakespearean figures: Richard II, Brutus (of Julius Caesar), and Hamlet.
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‘Rota Fortunae’ and the Symbolism of Evil in Shakespearean Tragedy
(summary)
In the following essay, Fabiny analyzes the image of the wheel of fortune and contends that the figurative turning of the wheel is a central organizing principle in Shakespearean tragedy, particularly Richard III, King Lear, and Macbeth.
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Fortune and Occasion in Shakespeare: Richard II, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet
(summary)
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Criticism: Fortune In The Comedies
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Fate, Fortune, and Twelfth Night
(summary)
In the following essay, Field considers the reactions of characters in Twelfth Night to the whims of fortune and fate.
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Blind Gods: Fortune, Justice, and Cupid in The Merchant of Venice.
(summary)
In the following essay, Waddington examines how the forces of fortune, justice, and Cupid dictate the fates of men and women in The Merchant of Venice.
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The Allegory of Love and Fortune: The Lottery in The Merchant of Venice.
(summary)
In the following essay, Kozikowski offers a reading of The Merchant of Venice that focuses on the play's lottery scenes as allegorical interludes depicting the rivalry of virtuous Love and capricious Fortune.
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Fate, Fortune, and Twelfth Night
(summary)
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Criticism: Fortune In The Tragedies
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Fortune and Friendship in Timon of Athens
(summary)
In the following essay, Walker contends that the moral allegory of Fortune featured in the first scene of Timon of Athens highlights the central theme of the play: the undesirability of owing one's success to fickle Fortune.
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Polanski vs. Welles on Macbeth: Character or Fate?
(summary)
In the following essay, Harper contrasts Roman Polanski's naturalistic, psychological, and character-driven film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth with Orson Welles's supernatural, externalized, and fatalistic screen interpretation of the tragedy. Character or fate—which holds the key to the destiny of the characters in Macbeth? Shakespeare's play suggests both possibilities, but in interpreting Macbeth for the screen, directors Roman Polanski and Orson Welles each choose only one element as the determining factor. Polanski selects character, Welles fate, and their differing cinematic treatments reflect their choices.
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Fate and Fortune in Romeo and Juliet
(summary)
In the following essay, Waters illuminates the significance of fate and fortune in Romeo and Juliet and explains how the intersection of chance circumstances, seemingly irrational forces, and human contingency come together to produce a tragedy written in the stars.
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The Subversive Metaphysics of Macbeth.
(summary)
In the following essay, O'Rourke examines the conflict between divine omniscience and human free will in Macbeth and suggests that Shakespeare's drama ironically subverts both of these concepts.
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Falling in Love: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
(summary)
In the following essay, Andrews recognizes the profound influence of “Fortune, Fate, and the Stars” in Romeo and Juliet, but nevertheless contends that the deaths of these young lovers are the result of choice, causality, divine will.
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Fortune and Friendship in Timon of Athens
(summary)
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Criticism: Fortune In The Roman Plays
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Antony and the Game of Chance
(summary)
In the following essay, Lloyd examines the destabilizing role of fortune in Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, observing Antony's affinity with the unpredictable powers of chance.
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Fortune in Antony and Cleopatra.
(summary)
In the following essay, Williamson views the goddess Fortune as the principal symbolic figure in Antony and Cleopatra, and finds that the tragedy of the drama is one of mighty individuals unwillingly caught among forces far beyond their understanding or control.
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Change, Fortune, and Time: Aspects of the Sublunar World in Antony and Cleopatra.
(summary)
In the following essay, Hallett investigates Shakespeare's combined emphasis on mutability, fortune, and time as defining forces in the pre-Christian world of Antony and Cleopatra.
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Antony and the Game of Chance
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
-
Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare
-
Introduction
(summary)
Fathers and daughters hold a complex and significant place in William Shakespeare's works, reflecting broader societal dynamics and familial tensions. Over recent decades, scholars have increasingly explored these relationships, particularly within Shakespeare's romantic comedies, late romances, and tragedies like King Lear. These narratives often present daughters negotiating their path to adulthood and marriage amidst their fathers' reluctance to relinquish control. The evolving scholarly perspective, influenced by feminist criticism, has shifted from earlier views that portrayed these familial struggles as normative to more recent interpretations highlighting paternal possessiveness and the constraints of patriarchal power, as noted in works like The Lords of Duty and Father-Daughter as Device in Shakespeare's Romantic Comedies.
In these interpretations, the daughters often emerge as heroines, central to the narratives they inhabit. This is evident in plays like Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet grapples with patriarchal constraints, as discussed by Kirby Farrell. Similarly, characters like Ophelia in Hamlet and Desdemona in Othello are framed as victims of patriarchal oppression, as argued by Diane Elizabeth Dreher. This critical lens often portrays these tragedies as critiques of the sexist structures that render daughters powerless, thereby inviting debates on whether Shakespeare can be viewed as a proto-feminist or if he remains entrenched in patriarchal traditions.
In King Lear, the father-daughter dynamic is particularly poignant, with Lear's interaction with Cordelia being a focal point that highlights themes of power, integrity, and familial duty, as explored by William B. Bache and Marianne Novy. These complex portrayals underscore Shakespeare's nuanced examination of familial relationships, offering rich material for scholarly exploration and debate about gender roles and power dynamics.
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Overviews
-
The Lords of Duty
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Taylor focuses on the irregular control that fathers exert on their daughters in many of Shakespeare's works.
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Dominated Daughters
(summary)
In this essay, Dreher discusses the tragic fates of Ophelia, Hero, and Desdemona maintaining that all three women are victims of patriarchal oppression. Shakespeare offers three examples of young women dominated by patriarchal expectations. Ophelia, Hero, and Desdemona are victimized by the traditional power structure that identifies women exclusively as childbearers, insisting on a rigid model of chastity to ensure the continuity of pure patrilineal succession. This requirement leaves women highly vulnerable. What matters is not that they are modest, chaste, and obedient, but that men perceive them as such. Imprisoned in their passive situation, women cannot actively affirm or defend their honor. The more they seek to be good women, conforming to traditional expectations, the more they are victimized. Politically and psychologically, these dominated daughters remain children in their innocence, obedience, and submission to authority. Because the passive feminine ideal denies them their autonomy, they fail to resolve the crisis of intimacy, fail to become fully adult. By depicting their suffering, Shakespeare repudiates the traditional stereotype as confining and destructive, arresting young women in their growth into healthy adulthood, and in some instances even depriving them of their lives.
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Love, Death, and Patriarchy in Romeo and Juliet
(summary)
Here, Farrell asserts that the intense fear of death among the characters in Romeo and Juliet reflects the breakdown of the patriarchal structure of Verona as well as its ability to inspire fantasies of immortality.
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The Lords of Duty
(summary)
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Comedies And Romances
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Father-Daughter as Device in Shakespeare's Romantic Comedies
(summary)
In the essay below, Hart assesses the function of the father-daughter device in Shakespeare's romantic comedies and the varied problems that arise from that relationship.
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Shakespeare's Imperiled and Chastening Daughters of Romance
(summary)
In the essay below, Frey examines the complex and timeless responses of daughters to familial pressures.
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Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare's Romances
(summary)
In the following essay, Hoy argues that it was the psychological climate of the late romances which allowed Shakespeare to create an ideal feminine figure in the form of a daughter.
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Father-Daughter as Device in Shakespeare's Romantic Comedies
(summary)
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Lear And Cordelia
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Lear as Old Man-Father-King
(summary)
In the following essay, Bache chronicles Lear's growth throughout the play, from his desire for a son to his acceptance of his daughter.
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Patriarchy, Mutuality, and Forgiveness in King Lear
(summary)
In the following essay first delivered at the 1977 conference on Shakespeare in Performance, Novy discusses the imbalance of power between Lear and his daughters, and observes that Cordelia tries to keep her integrity by withdrawing from 'the coercive 'mutuality' that patriarchy seems to demand.'
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Virago with a Soft Voice: Cordelia's Tragic Rebellion in King Lear
(summary)
In this essay, Millard examines Cordelia's part in the political elements of King Lear, noting that her rejection of her role as daughter in favor of one typically reserved for a son results in an internal struggle to attain her identity.
-
Lear as Old Man-Father-King
(summary)
-
Role Of Marriage
-
The King and the Physician's Daughter: All's Well That Ends Well and the Late Romances
(summary)
In this essay, Wheeler contends that, unlike the festive comedies, All's Well That Ends Well presents an action in which parental figures are closely and actively involved in the steps that lead to marriage.
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The Father and the Bride in Shakespeare
(summary)
Here, Boose explores the phases of the marriage ceremony—separation, transition, and reincorporation—as a pattern for the father-daughter relationship.
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The King and the Physician's Daughter: All's Well That Ends Well and the Late Romances
(summary)
- Further Reading
-
Introduction
(summary)
-
Fearful Simile: Stealing the Breech in Shakespeare's Chronicle Plays
-
Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's Henry VI plays are notable for their exploration of power dynamics and gender roles, as articulated in Kathryn Schwarz's analysis. The plays are characterized by their fragmented structure, reflecting the political turmoil they depict, with recurring themes such as the crowning, capturing, and killing of kings. A significant aspect of these plays is the portrayal of female characters whose agency challenges traditional gender norms. Characters like Joan and Margaret are depicted with complex identities that merge masculine and feminine traits, causing a disruption in societal and gender conventions.
Schwarz's analysis highlights the movement of female agency from the margins to the center, as seen in the character arcs of Joan la Pucelle and Queen Margaret. Margaret, in particular, represents a "monstrous female agency" that shifts from an external threat to a domestic one, embodying the intersection of the familiar and the uncanny as theorized by Freud. This shift is further analyzed by Engendering a Nation, which notes the transition of threats from foreign, unmarried women to ambitious, married women within England itself.
The plays complicate the binary of masculinity and femininity by presenting characters whose gender performances are doubled and stylized, a concept echoed by Judith Butler's theory of gender as performative. Joan is depicted as an "Amazon," a figure of dual identity that disrupts male-dominated power structures, while Margaret is "amazonian," manipulating social conventions from within, challenging both the roles of mother, wife, and queen.
Schwarz further distinguishes between Joan and Margaret using rhetorical strategies that relate to monitory texts: Joan’s portrayal aligns with exemplary catalogs, highlighting extremes, while Margaret's performance echoes conduct manuals, suggesting transgressive potential within domestic roles. This analysis underscores the Henry VI plays' exploration of identity and authority, where female characters play crucial roles in destabilizing traditional power structures, ultimately contributing to the plays' rich thematic complexity and their examination of the societal constructs of gender and power.
- To Be
- To Have
- To Seem
-
Introduction
(summary)
-
Feminist Criticism
-
Introduction
(summary)
Feminist criticism of William Shakespeare's works encompasses a wide range of critical practices that have evolved since the mid-1970s. This movement, marked by events such as Juliet Dusinberre's Shakespeare and the Nature of Women and a pivotal Modern Language Association session in 1976, reflects the diverse theoretical positions of the feminist movement. Common themes include examinations of patriarchy, gender roles, and the dynamics of power in Shakespearean plays. Feminist critics analyze these plays in the context of cultural and ideological frameworks, a shift in focus noted by critics such as Peter Erickson.
Character studies are central to feminist analyses of Shakespeare's works. Critics like Janet Adelman and Sharon M. Harris explore the portrayal and perception of characters such as Cressida in Troilus and Cressida. Adelman suggests that Cressida becomes "radically unknowable" upon her separation from Troilus, echoing the audience's experience. Harris reviews traditional critical responses to Cressida and highlights new feminist interpretations. Similarly, Sharon Ouditt examines different feminist readings of Gertrude in Hamlet and critiques these perspectives.
The methodologies of feminist critics have been scrutinized by scholars such as Jonathan Dollimore and Kathleen McLuskie. Dollimore defends cultural materialism as an approach to Shakespearean criticism, responding to feminist critiques. McLuskie highlights the limitations of mimetic and essentialist modes, emphasizing the complexities of women's roles in both Shakespeare's time and today. She critiques feminist readings of works like Measure for Measure and King Lear for often reordering textual interpretations. Similarly, Richard Levin critiques feminist thematic approaches, noting their tendency to attribute tragic outcomes to patriarchy, which he argues is an overly simplistic explanation.
- Further Reading
-
Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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The Family in Shakespeare Studies; or—Studies in the Family of Shakespeareans; or—The Politics of Politics
(summary)
In the following essay, Boose traces the evolution of feminist criticism in Shakespeare studies from the mid-1970s to the present, particularly regarding the treatment of marriage, sex, and family. Boose also discusses the feminist debate over Shakespeare's own attitude toward patriarchy and the subordination of women.
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Shakespeare, Cultural Materialism, Feminism and Marxist Humanism
(summary)
In the following essay, Dollimore explains and defends the approach of cultural materialism as a method of Shakespearean criticism, responds to feminist critics of this approach, and critiques feminist approaches to Shakespearean studies.
-
On the Origins of American Feminist Shakespeare Criticism
(summary)
In the following essay, Erickson surveys the history of feminist criticism of Shakespeare, discussing in particular the shift from pre-feminist studies to feminist criticism. He aims to construct a history of feminist Shakespeare criticism in the United States and addresses objections regarding the relevance of this history.
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The Family in Shakespeare Studies; or—Studies in the Family of Shakespeareans; or—The Politics of Politics
(summary)
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Criticism: Trends In Feminist Criticism Of Shakespeare's Characters
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'This Is and Is Not Cressid': The Characterization of Cressida
(summary)
In the essay that follows, Adelman studies the portrayal of Cressida in Troilus and Cressida, arguing that the play encourages the fantasy that Cressida somehow becomes “radically unknowable” when she is separated from Troilus, and that when this shift occurs the audience is forced to view Cressida in the same way the other characters do.
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Feminism and Shakespeare's Cressida: ‘If I Be False …’
(summary)
In the essay below, Harris analyzes the ways in which Cressida has been reviewed by modern criticism. Harris underscores the way feminist critics have countered each of these views of Cressida, and adds that feminist critics have found new ways of studying this character.
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Explaining Woman's Frailty: Feminist Readings of Gertrude
(summary)
In the following essay, Ouditt examines three feminist studies of Gertrude (from Shakespeare's Hamlet) in order to demonstrate the various types of concerns which serve as the focus of feminist criticism, and to highlight the shortcomings of these approaches.
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'This Is and Is Not Cressid': The Characterization of Cressida
(summary)
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Criticism: Trends In Feminist Criticism Of Shakespeare's Plays
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The Patriarchal Bard: Feminist Criticism and Shakespeare: King Lear and Measure for Measure
(summary)
In the following essay, McLuskie reviews several feminist approaches to Shakespeare's plays, highlighting in particular the problems with the mimetic and essentialist models of feminist criticism. The critic then applies her critique of such feminist approaches to King Lear and Measure for Measure.
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Feminist Thematics and Shakespearean Tragedy
(summary)
In the essay below, Levin examines the problems with the thematic approach to Shakespeare's tragedies in general, and the feminist thematic approach to the tragedies in particular. Levin observes that the central theme of Shakespeare's tragedies, as seen by feminist thematics, is the role of gender within society and the individual, and that according to feminist thematics critics, the tragic outcome of the plays is a result of masculinity or patriarchy.
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The Patriarchal Bard: Feminist Criticism and Shakespeare: King Lear and Measure for Measure
(summary)
-
Introduction
(summary)
-
Friendship
-
Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's exploration of friendship is a recurring theme across his body of work, spanning comedies, histories, and tragedies. Notable pairs such as Hamlet and Horatio in Hamlet, Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It, and Hal and Falstaff in the Henry IV plays highlight this theme. Critics have extensively analyzed Shakespeare's handling of the competition between friendship and romantic love, a common motif in Renaissance literature where male friendships often clash with the pursuit of heterosexual relationships. This dynamic is vividly portrayed in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Shakespeare's comedies and romances frequently depict love triangles that challenge male bonds, as discussed by Ruth Morse and Barry Weller.
The Merchant of Venice further exemplifies the tension between friendship and marriage, as argued by Zvi Jagendorf, who highlights the differing economic implications of each. Similarly, Richard Mallette and Alan Stewart explore the ultimately unfulfilling resolution of friendships in The Two Noble Kinsmen. On the tragic side, Hamlet offers a profound meditation on friendship, focusing on Hamlet's alliances with Horatio and his fraught interactions with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. James I. Wimsatt and Robert C. Evans provide insights into these relationships, with Evans emphasizing the enduring significance of friendship throughout the play.
Shakespeare also delves into the motif of false friendship, as seen in Timon of Athens, where Timon experiences betrayal by his so-called friends, analyzed by Clifford Davidson. The complex dynamics of friendship are further explored in Julius Caesar, where Jan H. Blits discusses the role of manliness and virtue. The relationship between Hal and Falstaff in the Henry IV plays also serves as a parody of genuine friendship, with their bond characterized by self-interest and indulgence.
-
Male Bonding in Shakespeare's Comedies
(summary)
In the following essay, Adelman traces developments in Shakespeare's treatment of male friendship from the early to middle comedies through the tragedies and late romances.
- Further Reading
-
Criticism: Friendship In The Comedies
-
Two Gentlemen and the Cult of Friendship
(summary)
In the following essay, Morse explores the antipathy between male friendship and romantic love dramatized in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
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The Two Noble Kinsmen, the Friendship Tradition, and the Flight from Eros
(summary)
In the following essay, Weller evaluates The Two Noble Kinsmen as a play that examines a fundamental conflict between friendship and marriage.
-
Innocent Arrows and Sexy Sticks: The Rival Economies of Male Friendship and Heterosexual Love in The Merchant of Venice
(summary)
In the following essay, Jagendorf examines the depiction of male friendship and heterosexual love in The Merchant of Venice, arguing that Shakespeare's play features a strong contrast between the two: marriage promises profit and increase while friendship portends only debt and continued sacrifice.
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Same-Sex Erotic Friendship in The Two Noble Kinsmen
(summary)
In the following essay, Mallette claims that The Two Noble Kinsmen contains two sets of homosocial friendship bonds—those of Arcite/Palamon and Emilia/Flavina. The critic contends that these bonds are destroyed over the course of the drama without being satisfactorily redeemed by the 'superficially happy marriage' that closes the play.
-
‘Near Akin’: The Trials of Friendship in The Two Noble Kinsmen
(summary)
In the following essay, Stewart examines the idealized friendship of Palamon and Arcite in The Two Noble Kinsmen and notes that their friendship, which is defined by medieval codes of chivalric honor and kinship, exists uncomfortably among the social realities of Jacobean England.
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Two Gentlemen and the Cult of Friendship
(summary)
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Criticism: Friendship In The Tragedies
-
The Player King on Friendship
(summary)
In the following essay, Wimsatt centers on the speech of the Player King in Act III, scene ii of Hamlet, which mentions the mutability of friendship, and contends that Shakespeare portrayed the motifs of fortune and friendship in the play as fickle, unstable, and inscrutable forces.
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Timon of Athens: The Iconography of False Friendship
(summary)
In the following essay, Davidson interprets the title figure in Timon of Athens as a Renaissance emblem of failed friendship.
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Manliness and Friendship in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
(summary)
In the following essay, Blits contends that the antique virtue of manliness is the basis of true friendship in Julius Caesar.
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Friendship in Hamlet
(summary)
In the following essay, Evans suggests that friendship is a fundamental theme in Hamlet and analyzes Hamlet's relationships in the drama, particularly his strong bond with Horatio.
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The Player King on Friendship
(summary)
-
Introduction
(summary)
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Gender Identity
-
Overviews: Gender In Shakespeare's Plays
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The Women's Part: Female Sexuality as Power in Shakespeare's Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, Berggren surveys the woman's role in Shakespeare's plays as an archetypal figure of innate power that elicits both fear and adoration in men.
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Shakespeare's Imagery of Gender and Gender Crossing
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Novy explores Shakespeare's changing use of gender imagery in his comedies, later tragedies, and romances.
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The Women's Part: Female Sexuality as Power in Shakespeare's Plays
(summary)
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Feminine Identity
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The Comic Heroine and the Avoidance of Choice
(summary)
In the following essay, Bamber studies the role of the feminine 'other' in Shakespeare's comedies as a figure that avoids change, development, and decisionmaking.
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Playing the Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism and Shakespearean Performance
(summary)
In the following essay, Helms provides a feminist critique of Shakespeare's female roles in performance and envisions a theatre where patriarchal representations of femininity can be transformed into roles for living women.
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The Comic Heroine and the Avoidance of Choice
(summary)
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Masculine Identity
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The Milking Babe and the Bloody Man in Coriolanus and Macbeth
(summary)
In the following essay, Kahn examines the false attempts of Macbeth and Coriolanus to become men through violent action.
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The Milking Babe and the Bloody Man in Coriolanus and Macbeth
(summary)
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Androgyny: Crossdressing And Disguise
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Androgyny: Crossdressing and Disguise
(summary)
In the following excerpt originally published in 1975, Dusinberre discusses Shakespeare's use of women in male disguise as a means to more fully explore the nature of femininity.
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Crossdressing, the Theatre, and Gender Struggle in Early Modern England
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Howard contends that cross-dressing, while destabilizing the 'notion of fixed sexual difference' in Shakespeare's plays, is nevertheless part of a conservative process in which inverted gender roles are ultimately restored to their 'proper' positions.
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The Gender of Rosalind
(summary)
In the following essay, Kott probes the structural, thematic, and historical components of Rosalind's ambiguous gender in As You Like It.
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Androgyny: Crossdressing and Disguise
(summary)
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Gender And Genre
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Gender and Genre in Antony and Cleopatra
(summary)
In the following essay originally published in 1985, Neely argues that in Antony and Cleopatra "genre boundaries are . . . enlarged" to include "motifs, themes, and characterization" from Shakespeare's comedies, tragicomedies, and tragedies. Likewise, she contends that "gender distinctions . . . are expanded, magnified, and ratified" in this work as in no other Shakespearean play.
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Mixed Gender, Mixed Genre in Shakespeare's As You Like It
(summary)
In the following essay, Bono offers a feminist analysis of As You Like It and contends that the play "represent(s) both the masculine struggle for identity and a female 'double-voiced' discourse"—the latter implying that the feminine simultaneously adopts and derides the conventions of a dominant male culture.
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Gender and Genre In Shakespeare's Tragicomedies
(summary)
In the following essay, Wilcox confronts the myths commonly associated with the genre of tragicomedy, and maintains that Shakespeare's tragicomedies are "as much about femininity as masculinity."
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Gender and Genre in Antony and Cleopatra
(summary)
- Further Reading
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Overviews: Gender In Shakespeare's Plays
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Homosexuality
-
Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's works encompass complex themes of sexuality and gender, reflecting the flexible and non-binary perceptions of his era. Scholars often contextualize Shakespeare's exploration of sexuality within the distinct frameworks of early modern and postmodern understandings of gender. In Shakespeare's time, sexuality was not seen as a defining trait, and terms such as 'homosexual' were nonexistent, with sexual identity being fluid and intertwined with social constructs rather than biological imperatives.
The interplay between same-sex desire and societal expectations is notably present in Shakespearean comedies. Twelfth Night, for example, is analyzed as a subversion of fixed sexual and gender norms, as noted by Charles Casey. The play examines fluid identities and challenges dualistic perceptions of sexuality. Similarly, Valerie Traub discusses how As You Like It transcends binary oppositions, while The Merchant of Venice presents a juxtaposition of homosexual and heterosexual love, as explored by critics like Alan Sinfield. Gregory Woods highlights the gay undertones in Shakespeare's sonnets, particularly Sonnet 20, and observes the reader's engagement with these themes.
Shakespeare's historical plays further explore male homosocial bonds, with discussions on desire and masculinity in Henry IV elucidated by Jonathan Goldberg. The complex relationships in Troilus and Cressida and Coriolanus depict the intricate ties between male aggression and affection. The portrayal of homosexual themes in these works, whether through homoerotic undercurrents or through overt expressions of male bonding, continues to spark diverse interpretations and debate among scholars and audiences alike.
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William Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following essay, the critic explores interpretations of Shakespeare's works, highlighting homoerotic themes in plays such as Troilus and Cressida and The Merchant of Venice, while examining the complex critical debate regarding the homosexual implications of Shakespeare's sonnets and the nuanced relationship between male friendship and sexual love.
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Hal's Desire, Shakespeare's Idaho
(summary)
In the following essay, the critic explores male homosocial relationships and normative masculinity in Shakespeare's Henry IV plays, emphasizing the complexity of sexual identity in early modern England, and contrasts these themes with modern interpretations and Foucault's theories on the history of sexuality.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Comedies
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The Homoerotics of Shakespearean Comedy
(summary)
In the following essay, Traub compares the representation of homoerotic desire in As You Like It and Twelfth Night, proposing that the early modern theatrical practice of boy actors playing female roles made it possible for Shakespeare to depict multiple sexual desires in both these comedies.
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Gender Trouble in Twelfth Night
(summary)
In the essay below, Charles maintains that Twelfth Night critiques Renaissance notions of masculinity and femininity, demonstrating that the dualism of homosexuality and heterosexuality is a social construct. He calls particular attention to the significance of Viola's cross-dressing, the instances of same-sex attraction between Viola and Olivia as well as Antonio and Sebastian, and the play's ending—which, in his judgment, subverts the notion of stable sexual and gender differences.
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Preposterous Pleasures: Queer Theories and A Midsummer Night's Dream
(summary)
In the following essay, Green explores the homoerotic aspects of A Midsummer Night's Dream by examining Bottom's explication of his “dream,” Oberon's attraction to the changeling boy, and the relationship between Helena and Hermia. The critic contends, however, that the play ultimately upholds conservative cultural ideologies.
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The Homoerotics of Shakespearean Comedy
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Iconography
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's utilization of iconography—visual images and symbols—offers profound insights into his works' thematic and character complexities. The rich tapestry of visual symbolism in his plays resonates with the Renaissance audience's familiarity with emblem books, which combined pictures, mottos, and verses, influencing the dramatic visualization of Shakespeare’s era. These symbols are crucial in understanding the plays' action, thematic nuances, and characterization. For instance, John Doebler examines Richard II through religious iconography, highlighting the king's dual nature as both human and divine, while Peggy Endel contrasts with the lewd and satanic imagery in Richard III, emphasizing the complex moral dimensions of Shakespeare’s works (Profane Icon: The Throne Scene of Shakespeare's Richard III). Similarly, Clayton G. MacKenzie explores the symbolic use of emblems in the Henry VI trilogy and Henry IV plays, noting the ironic representation of heroic and monstrous figures.
In Shakespeare's tragedies, iconography further deepens the audience's engagement. Bridget Gellert's analysis of Hamlet highlights Yorick's skull as a symbol of life's transience (The Iconography of Melancholy in the Graveyard Scene of Hamlet), while Bettie Anne Doebler's examination of Othello demonstrates how traditional symbols enrich the Moor's tragic demise (Othello's Angels: The Ars Morendi). Clifford Davidson discusses King Lear, where visual symbols question moral certainties, especially in Act V (The Iconography of Wisdom and Folly in King Lear).
Shakespeare's romances are rich in visual imagery, as seen in The Winter's Tale and Cymbeline. Clifford Davidson and Frederick Kiefer analyze how time and rebirth motifs in The Winter's Tale highlight its themes of renewal (The Iconography of Time in The Winter's Tale), while Rhonda Lemke Sanford and Peggy Muñoz Simonds explore Cymbeline's use of Wild Men and feminine geography, emphasizing the stark contrast between civilization and nature. Collectively, these analyses underscore Shakespeare's mastery in employing iconographic elements to enrich the dramatic and thematic depth of his plays.
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Iconography and Some Problems of Terminology in the Study of the Drama and Theater of the Renaissance
(summary)
In the following essay, Davidson proposes that in the context of the Elizabethan and Jacobean theater, the term iconography may pertain to every visual aspect of a stage production. He also maintains that whereas Protestant iconoclasts of the period deplored the potential deceptiveness of visual images, Shakespeare and his contemporaries exploited the visual images of the Renaissance to enrich their plays.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Iconography In The History Plays
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Profane Icon: The Throne Scene of Shakespeare's Richard III.
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Endel explicates the scatological, satanic, and melancholic associations evoked by the iconic stage image of the newly crowned Richard III meditating on his private schemes from the seat of majesty.
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Emblems of an English Eden
(summary)
In the following excerpt, MacKenzie discusses different icons of life-in-death in Shakespeare's English history plays that support the themes of renewal and heroic succession. He calls particular attention to the phoenix allusions and the idea of England as a new Troy in the Henry VI trilogy and to symbols of the nation as a new Eden in the second tetralogy.
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Iconic Monsters in Paradise
(summary)
In the following excerpt, MacKenzie highlights the unconventional use of the mythic figures of Mars and the Hydra in 1 and 2 Henry IV and Henry V. He suggests that although the struggle between Hercules and the Hydra was traditionally represented as a moral contest between good and evil, allusions to the many-headed monster in the Henry IV plays confound the issue of who is virtuous and who is vicious in the competition for the throne. Similarly, MacKenzie views the references to Mars in Henry V as an interrogation of the idea of the continual regeneration of English heroism.
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Profane Icon: The Throne Scene of Shakespeare's Richard III.
(summary)
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Criticism: Iconography In The Tragedies
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Othello's Angels: The Ars Morendi.
(summary)
In the following essay, Doebler examines Othello's last moments within the tradition of the art of dying well, with particular reference to popular iconography and devotional books. The critic asserts that by framing the Moor's precipitous death within this tradition, Shakespeare intensified the audience's sympathy for the despairing hero.
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The Iconography of Melancholy in the Graveyard Scene of Hamlet
(summary)
In the following essay, Gellert maintains that the first half of Act V, scene i of Hamlet, while the prince meditates on Yorick's skull and jests with the gravediggers, serves as an emblematic representation of melancholy as both a disorder and a sign of imaginative thinking.
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The Iconography of Ophelia
(summary)
In the following essay, Lyons discusses two emblematic episodes in Hamlet that feature Ophelia: her distribution of flowers (IV.v) and the scene where the prince encounters her as she walks about reading a book (III.i). In the first instance she is closely associated with the mythical nymph Flora, the critic points out, and in the second with figures of female piety—including the Virgin Mary—yet on both occasions the iconographic associations are deeply ambivalent and support conflicting interpretations of her character.
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Emblem and Rape in Shakespeare's Lucrece and Titus Andronicus
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Bowers examines the structure and style of Lucrece and Titus Andronicus, and notes that in both Lucrece and Titus the social and political ramifications are emphasized in extended speeches that serve as verbal emblems.
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The Iconography of Wisdom and Folly in King Lear
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Davidson calls attention to the way symbolic associations underscore the motif of reversals and inversions of order in King Lear. He argues that although the first four acts may be read as a traditional Christian presentation of the operation of divine providence, the iconography of Act V appears to question the wisdom of relying on moral or religious certainties.
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Emblems of the Polity: The Wounds of Rhetoric and of the Body Politic in Shakespeare's Rome
(summary)
In the following essay, Kiséry contrasts the emblematic use of wounded bodies for political purposes in Coriolanus and Julius Caesar.
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Othello's Angels: The Ars Morendi.
(summary)
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Criticism: Iconography In The Romances
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The Iconography of Illusion and Truth in The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following excerpt, originally delivered as a lecture at the Ohio Shakespeare Conference in Dayton, 1981, Davidson discusses the symbolic significance of visual effects in a series of episodes in The Winter's Tale, including the display of male friendship, the onset of Leontes's jealousy, the trial scene, the storm on the shore of Bohemia, the sheep-shearing scene, and the transformation of Hermione.
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The Iconography of Primitivism in Cymbeline
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Simonds links Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus to the medieval myth and emblem tradition of Wild Men. The innate virtue of these three is in stark contrast to the villainy of Cymbeline's court, she contends, and they are integral to the restoration of a purified Britain.
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Christian Vision and Iconography in Pericles
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Hanna traces Pericles's spiritual evolution in terms of his increasing awareness of good and evil and his eventual understanding of what may be gained by patience and perseverance. She finds in the play a coherent system of emblems and spectacles developed from Christian and biblical sources that mark the hero's progress from darkness to light.
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‘Sweet Power of Music’: The Political Magic of ‘the Miraculous Harp’ in Shakespeare's The Tempest
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Simonds focuses on analogies between Prospero and Orpheus, the mythical demigod who employed music and eloquence to civilize brutish men and induce harmony in his kingdom.
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A Room Not One's Own: Feminine Geography in Cymbeline
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Sanford links the Renaissance connection between women's bodies and geography—evident in the iconography of Elizabeth I—to the wager plot in Cymbeline. She compares Iachimo's cataloguing of Imogen's bedchamber and the mark on her breast (II.ii) to the work of a mapmaker and likens his improvisational report of what he observed (II.iv) to a tale told by a traveler returned from distant lands.
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The Iconography of Time in The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Kiefer emphasizes Time's restorative powers as well as its destructive ones in The Winter's Tale. Time's dual nature, the critic suggests, is symbolized by the hourglass he carries, for its inversion signals a dramatic movement from catastrophe to consolation.
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The Iconography of Illusion and Truth in The Winter's Tale
(summary)
-
Introduction
(summary)
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Incest
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Introduction
(summary)
Incest as a motif permeates many of Shakespeare’s works, reflecting both the moral and theological complexities of the theme within the Christian tradition and its broader implications for social and political order. This motif, as analyzed by scholars like Richard McCabe, is particularly prominent in Shakespeare’s tragedies, where it unleashes retributive forces, and in his romances, where it often symbolizes forbidden desires ultimately reconciled. In historical plays like Richard III and Henry VIII, incestuous undertones underscore the tension between personal desire and monarchical duty.
Shakespeare’s tragedies, notably Hamlet and King Lear, illustrate the destructive potential of incestuous desires. In Hamlet, Jason P. Rosenblatt interprets Hamlet's accusations of incest against his mother as a metaphor for political and religious corruption, while Mark J. Blechner sees King Lear as a tragic exploration of suppressed incestuous emotions between father and daughter.
In the late romances, incest serves as both a threat and a narrative pivot. Pericles, as noted by W. B. Thorne, contrasts the fertility of Pericles’ lineage with the barrenness of the incestuous relationship of Antiochus, while Alexander Leggatt emphasizes its thematic coherence. In Cymbeline, R. E. Gajdusek examines the symbolic implications of incest threats, ultimately steering the narrative towards redemption.
In romances like The Tempest and The Winter's Tale, the taboo of incest is subtly woven into the narrative fabric, influencing the dynamics between characters such as Prospero and Miranda. As Jane M. Ford points out, the resolution of these incest threats often dictates whether the play ends in harmony or tragedy, illustrating Shakespeare’s complex engagement with this potent and pervasive theme.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following excerpt, McCabe surveys Shakespeare's subtle and varied use of the incest motif in his histories, tragedies, and romances.
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The Triangle in William Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Ford explores Shakespeare's resolution of the father-daughter incest threat in a number of his plays, particularly King Lear, Pericles, and The Tempest.
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Shakespeare
(summary)
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Criticism: The Motif Of Incest In The Late Romances
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Pericles and the ‘Incest-Fertility’ Opposition
(summary)
In the following essay, Thorne offers an analysis of Pericles as representative of Shakespeare's “late plays of reconciliation,” arguing that the drama's central principle of fertility is structurally counterpointed by the incest motif.
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Death, Incest, and the Triple Bond in the Later Plays of Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Gajdusek traces the multiple incest threats and their symbolic implications in Cymbeline.
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‘I Feed on Mother's Flesh’: Incest and Eating in Pericles.
(summary)
In the following essay, Lewis probes the metaphorical link between incest and the cannibalistic devouring of kin in the thematic contexts of Pericles.
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The Shadow of Antioch: Sexuality in Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
(summary)
In the following essay, Leggatt considers Shakespeare's inspired treatment of sexual themes in the otherwise episodic and somewhat incoherent drama Pericles, with particular emphasis on the incestuous relationship of Antiochus and his daughter.
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Pericles and the ‘Incest-Fertility’ Opposition
(summary)
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Criticism: Incest And Tragedy
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Aspects of the Incest Problem in Hamlet.
(summary)
In the following essay, Rosenblatt presents a theological interpretation of Hamlet's accusations of incest against his mother and uncle in Hamlet, and also stresses the symbolic connotations of incest as a metaphor for political and religious corruption in the drama.
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King Lear, King Leir, and Incest Wishes
(summary)
In the following essay, Blechner contends that King Lear is “a love-tragedy between father and daughter,” and provides a psychoanalytic appraisal of the play as it dramatizes the consequences of Lear's long suppressed incestuous passion for Cordelia.
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Aspects of the Incest Problem in Hamlet.
(summary)
-
Introduction
(summary)
-
Jealousy
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Introduction
(summary)
Jealousy is a central theme in William Shakespeare's work, particularly in the plays Othello and The Winter's Tale. In Othello, the "green-eyed monster" of jealousy primarily drives the plot and character development, as both Othello and Iago manifest intense, obsessive jealousy. Scholars like Katharine Eisaman Maus and Derek Cohen explore how this jealousy intertwines with themes of patriarchy, gender, and social control. Kenneth Muir and Ruth M. Levitsky further analyze Iago and Othello's contrasting characters, while David Suchet attributes Iago's motivations to jealousy itself. Edward Snow and Michael W. Shurgot offer psychoanalytic readings, linking Othello's possessiveness and sexual anxiety to societal norms.
In The Winter's Tale, King Leontes's abrupt jealousy of Polixenes is similarly destructive, prompting debates over its justification. Some, like Norman Nathan, suggest a basis in perceived innuendo, whereas others, including Murray M. Schwartz and Richard H. Abrams, view it as a form of madness. These analyses emphasize how jealousy in Shakespeare's work is not merely a personal flaw but is deeply entwined with broader themes of identity, social expectation, and the tension between perception and reality.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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Patriarchy and Jealousy in Othello and The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following essay, Cohen compares the jealousy of Othello with that of King Leontes of The Winter's Tale, examining their fantasies of wifely infidelity and their need to regain social control and status through murderous sacrifice.
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Horns of Dilemma: Jealousy, Gender, and Spectatorship in English Renaissance Drama
(summary)
In the following essay, Maus explores the relationship between sexual jealousy and the performance of theatrical spectacle in the English Renaissance, with particular emphasis on Shakespearean drama, notably Othello.
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Patriarchy and Jealousy in Othello and The Winter's Tale
(summary)
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Criticism: Jealousy In Othello
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Othello
(summary)
In the following excerpt, originally published in 1972, Muir concentrates on the figures of Othello and Iago, considering their differing connections to the theme of jealousy in Othello.
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Prudence versus Wisdom in Othello.
(summary)
In the following essay, Levitsky contrasts Iago's suspicious, Machiavellian, and ultimately jealous personality with Othello's credulity and Desdemona's virtue.
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Sexual Anxiety and the Male Order of Things in Othello
(summary)
In the following essay, Snow links Othello's jealousy to his psychologically and culturally conditioned feelings of sexual guilt and anxiety.
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Iago in Othello
(summary)
In the following essay, Suchet, who played the part of Iago with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1995, offers a detailed analysis of the character's motivation, suggesting that it is based on unfounded jealousy.
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Othello's Jealousy and the ‘Gate of Hell.’
(summary)
In the following essay, Shurgot examines Othello's sexual possessiveness, as indicated by the objectifying imagery of his speech concerning Desdemona.
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Othello
(summary)
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Criticism: The Winter's Tale: The Jealousy Of Leontes
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Leontes' Provocation
(summary)
In the following essay, Nathan finds that Leontes's jealousy of Polixenes in The Winter's Tale appears quite suddenly, but is nevertheless properly motivated by Shakespeare.
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Leontes' Jealousy in The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following essay, Schwartz offers a psychological explanation of the sources and motivations for Leontes's jealousy in The Winter's Tale.
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Leontes's Enemy: Madness in The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following essay, Abrams probes Leontes's seemingly “causeless, self-begetting jealousy” in The Winter's Tale.
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Leontes' Provocation
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
-
Kingship
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Introduction
(summary)
The theme of kingship is central to William Shakespeare's historical and tragic plays, where the struggle for power and the ideal qualities of a ruler are extensively explored. His first historical tetralogy, known as the Henriad—comprising Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V—is a focal point for examining these themes. In addition, plays like Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear broaden this exploration to consider the legitimacy of political authority and the quest for an ideal monarch, blending medieval Christian ideals with Renaissance conceptions of rulership, notably influenced by Machiavelli.
Critics have often discussed the Renaissance ideal of kingship, noting the personal, spiritual, and political dimensions Shakespeare infuses into his characters. George W. Keeton and Leonard Tennenhouse highlight Shakespeare's efforts to delineate a type of ruler who is not only a protector of his people but also a legitimate authority. Sukanta Chaudhuri argues that Henry V epitomizes this Renaissance ideal by harmonizing Machiavellian virtues with Christian morality. Conversely, Barbara Traister critiques King John as a flawed monarch, lacking the majestic "second body" of true kingship.
Shakespeare's plays also serve as critiques of flawed rulership, as evidenced in other analyses. Richard F. Hardin examines the ceremonial aspects of monarchy, contrasting Richard II's empty pageantry with Henry V's sincere piety. Similarly, Richard C. McCoy describes the insufficiency of ceremony alone to establish true authority. The depiction of monarchical failures, such as Richard II's reliance on divine right or King Lear's irresponsible abdication leading to chaos, as explored by Graham Holderness and Eva Figes, further illuminates Shakespeare's critical examination of kingship and authority.
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The Legitimacy Of Rule And The Ideal King
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Rituals of State: History and the Elizabethan Strategies of Power
(summary)
In the following excerpt, an earlier version of which was published in 1985 in Political Shakespeare: New Essays in Cultural Materialism, Tennenhouse discusses Shakespeare's creation of the Elizabethan chronicle history plays and the drama Hamlet as a political activity in which sought to find a legitimate, ideal ruling authority.
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The King's One Body: Unceremonial Kingship in King John
(summary)
In the following essay, Traister investigates the character of King John as an example of a Shakespearean monarch lacking his 'second body, the public image of majesty and power.'
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The New Machiavelli: Shakespeare in the Henriad
(summary)
In the following essay, Chaudhuri contends that in the character of Henry V Shakespeare reveals "an integrated and purposive development of a new Renaissance ideal of kingship" in which he "appropriates and extends the Machiavellian view of man.
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Rituals of State: History and the Elizabethan Strategies of Power
(summary)
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Monarchy And Ceremony
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Thou Idol Ceremony': Elizabeth I, The Henriad, and the Rites of the English Monarchy
(summary)
In the following essay, McCoy explores the theatrics of royal ceremony and contends that Shakespeare's later history plays undercut the majesty of ceremony and expose its 'made-up quality' and the void behind its illusions.
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Shakespeare: Liberty and Idol Ceremony
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Hardin studies the thematic links between ceremony and proper rulership in the Henriad.
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Thou Idol Ceremony': Elizabeth I, The Henriad, and the Rites of the English Monarchy
(summary)
- Abdication And Absolutism
- Further Reading
-
Introduction
(summary)
-
Law and Justice
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's works are rife with themes of law and justice, intricately woven across his comedies, histories, tragedies, and problem plays. Shakespeare frequently explores legal frameworks, often through trials that serve thematic purposes. In the comedies and romances, formal and mock trials highlight the tension between human law and providential justice, while the problem plays question the efficacy of legal systems. The Merchant of Venice, for instance, is renowned for its dramatic trial scene, exemplifying the conflict between vengeance and mercy, as analyzed by critics such as Jay L. Halio and Daniel Kornstein. Shylock's legal suit in the play also poses an ideological challenge to Venetian authority, as noted by Stephen A. Cohen. Meanwhile, Measure for Measure illustrates the limitations of legal authority, as discussed by John D. Eure, and The Winter's Tale features a trial showcasing the perils of irrationality and jealousy, according to David M. Bergeron.
In Shakespeare's histories, legal authority is often portrayed as susceptible to misuse, with plays like Richard II examining property law and legitimate succession, as discussed by W. F. Bolton. The darker implications of law are further explored in tragedies like King Lear, where the struggle between Natural Law and worldly legislation is a central theme. Janet M. Green and R. S. White both highlight how the play reflects on the failures of Jacobean justice and the ultimate triumph of divine judgment. These explorations in Shakespeare's plays continue to resonate, offering rich ground for scholarly evaluation of the intersections between law, equity, and societal norms.
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Overview
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Shakespeare and the Legal Process: Four Essays
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Eure surveys themes of justice and law in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, and King Lear.
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Shakespeare and the Legal Process: Four Essays
(summary)
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Law In Comedy And Romance: Trials, Marriage, And Merciful Justice
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Hermione's Trial in 'The Winter's Tale'
(summary)
In the following essay, Bergeron argues that Hermione's trial in The Winter's Tale reflects a triumph of rationality over passion.
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Portia: Shakespeare's Matlock?
(summary)
In the following essay, Halio examines The Merchant of Venice as a play concerned with 'mercy in the context of justice.'
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Fie Upon Your Law!
(summary)
In the following essay, Kornstein evaluates The Merchant of Venice as a legal parable that weighs the conflict between rigid and equitable interpretations of law.
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'The Quality of Mercy': Law, Equity and Ideology in The Merchant of Venice
(summary)
In the following essay, Cohen probes the ideological threat to the dominant social order represented by Shylock's legal suit in The Merchant of Venice.
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'Lawful Deed': Consummation, Custom, and Law in All's Well That Ends Well
(summary)
In the following essay, Mukherji studies the legal and contractual obligations of Renaissance marriage dramatized in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well.
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Hermione's Trial in 'The Winter's Tale'
(summary)
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Law In The Histories: Property And Succession
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Ricardian Law Reports and Richard II
(summary)
In the following essay, Bolton considers the place of property law in Richard II.
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Ricardian Law Reports and Richard II
(summary)
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King Lear: Divine Judgment And Natural Law
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Earthly Doom and Heavenly Thunder: Judgement in King Lear
(summary)
In the following essay, Green discusses the workings of legal and divine judgment in King Lear.
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Shakespeare's The History of King Lear
(summary)
In the following excerpt, White interprets King Lear as Shakespeare's most powerful demonstration of the struggle between Natural and worldly law.
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Earthly Doom and Heavenly Thunder: Judgement in King Lear
(summary)
- Further Reading
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Introduction
(summary)
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Losing the Map: Topographical Understanding in the Henriad
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Introduction
(summary)
In his analysis of Shakespeare’s Henriad, David Read explores the intersection of geography and literature, emphasizing the importance of physical orientation in understanding the main characters in Shakespeare's second tetralogy. Read argues that while terms like 'geography' and 'mapping' are often used metaphorically in literary criticism, there is significant value in considering their literal implications, particularly in historical plays. By superimposing spiritual senses over physical locations, Shakespeare's characters are positioned both in a literal and a historical context, as noted by G. K. Hunter. This duality underscores the characters' roles as historical actors, where physical presence in the world aligns closely with their place in history. This approach provides a unique lens through which to understand the narratives and character dynamics in Shakespeare’s work.
- Hotspur
- Prince Hal
- Henry V
- Henry IV
- The Border of History
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Introduction
(summary)
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Love and Romance
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's exploration of love and romance is marked by complexity and ambiguity across his plays. In his tragedies, romantic love often culminates in death, yet it is portrayed as noble and selfless. This is reflected in the female protagonists of his love tragedies, such as Juliet and Desdemona, who, as argued by Evelyn Gajowski, exhibit courage in love despite societal constraints. Shakespeare's romantic comedies, however, introduce a blend of romantic and antiromantic elements, where traditional happy endings are questioned, as noted by R. S. White. For example, in Love's Labour's Lost, the expected resolution is deferred, highlighting the tension between love and societal values. Richard A. Levin further discusses how these plays depict the clash between romantic ideals and the allure of fortune, reflecting societal struggles of the Elizabethan era.
Marriage is another focal point in Shakespeare's oeuvre, often portrayed with ambiguity. Early comedies present marriage optimistically, but later works reveal a shift towards a more cynical view, focusing on fears of infidelity, as described by B. J. Pendlebury. Carol Thomas Neely and other critics examine how marriage influences the thematic and structural aspects of the plays, with Neely emphasizing its role in both social and emotional relationships. The nuances of Elizabethan marriage laws and customs further complicate Shakespeare's portrayal of matrimony, as explored by Ann Jennalie Cook, who highlights the consequences of nonconformity and how these themes appear in Shakespeare's narratives. Ultimately, the varied and often contradictory depictions of love and marriage in his works resist easy interpretation, reflecting both personal and societal dilemmas of his time.
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Romantic Comedy
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Shakespeare's Mature Romantic Comedies
(summary)
In the following essay, White studies the endings of Shakespeare's romantic comedies, maintaining that the playwright experiments with combining the finality of a comic ending with the 'endless' nature of a romantic ending.
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Love and Society in Shakespearean Comedy: A Study of Dramatic Form and Content
(summary)
In the following essay, Levin contends that in his romantic comedies, Shakespeare explores the conflict between romantic and antiromantic values, such as the opposition between love and the desire for fortune. Levin stresses that this conflict was apparent in Elizabethan society and in other literature of the time, and that in part the tension deals with the perceived failure of Elizabethan society to live up to the values extolled in medieval romance.
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Shakespeare's Mature Romantic Comedies
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Love Tragedy
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Human Affiliation and the Wedge of Gender
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In the following essay, Gajowski argues that in Shakespeare's love tragedies, Shakespeare emphasizes the humanity common among male and female characters, despite culturally enforced conceptions of gender roles. Gajowski focuses on the characteristics of the female protagonists in these plays and the nature of their love for the male protagonists.
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Human Affiliation and the Wedge of Gender
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Courtship And Marriage
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Happy Ever After: Some Aspects of Marriage in Shakespeare's Plays
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In the following essay, Pendlebury examines the development of Shakespeare's treatment of marriage in his plays, noting that in the early comedies, the prospect of marriage is of primary significance and is represented in an optimistic manner, whereas in the later plays, Shakespeare's tone regarding marriage shifts to a more pessimistic one.
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Introduction: Wooing, Wedding, and Repenting
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In the following essay, Neely examines the way in which marriage—achieved and postponed or destroyed—influences the structure and themes of Shakespeare's plays. Neely maintains that marriage becomes the focal point for relationships, both social and emotional, for men and women in the plays.
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Secret Promises and Elopements, Broken Contracts and Divorces
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In the following essay, Cook discusses many of the particulars of Elizabethan marriage laws and customs and then explores the way in which Shakespeare's plays address or correspond to real-life contemporary matrimonial issues. Cook concludes that Shakespeare represents courtship and marriage in a variety of positive and negative ways and that there is no easy way to determine what his own views on the subject were.
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Happy Ever After: Some Aspects of Marriage in Shakespeare's Plays
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- Further Reading
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Introduction
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Madness
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Introduction
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William Shakespeare is widely acclaimed for his profound exploration of the human psyche, particularly through themes of madness and psychological imbalance. His works, such as Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear, have been praised for their prescient insights into mental illness, which have been linked to later psychiatric understandings. Recent scholarship has increasingly focused on contextualizing these themes within the Elizabethan worldview, distinguishing them from modern interpretations. Scholars like Carol Thomas Neely emphasize the historical shift in perceptions of madness as secular and gendered. Works by Winfred Overholser and Paolo Valesio delve into the Renaissance's diverse influences on these conceptions, while Jack D'Amico and Karin S. Coddon explore the intersection of madness and political discourse in Shakespeare’s works. Gender analysis, notably by Elaine Showalter and Maurice and Hanna Charney, has also illuminated how madness provides a lens to examine female agency and representation, offering characters like Ophelia a complex emotional landscape beyond traditional gender roles.
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Overviews
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Madness in Euripides, Shakespeare, and Kafka: An Examination of The Bacchae, Hamlet, King Lear, and The Castle
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In the following essay, Perry examines Shakespeare's association of madness with family relationships, alienation, and self-dramatization in King Lear and Hamlet.
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Love and Madness in the Works of Shakespeare and Others
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In the essay below, Corballis discusses the thematic link between love and madness in the Elizabethan theater of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
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'Documents in Madness': Reading Madness and Gender in Shakespeare's Tragedies and Early Modern Culture
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In this essay, Neely argues that modern analyses of the cultural construction of madness have been prone to 'misreadings of the past' due to a failure to historicize their own position. She then examines how representations of madness in Shakespeare's tragedies function within wider cultural contexts.
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Madness in Euripides, Shakespeare, and Kafka: An Examination of The Bacchae, Hamlet, King Lear, and The Castle
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Relation To Elizabethan Culture
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Shakespeare's Psychiatry—And After
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In the following essay originally presented at the Folger Shakespeare Library in 1958, Overholser discusses how Shakespeare's characterizations of mental illness were informed by such aspects of the Renaissance worldview as astrology, witchcraft, and the bodily humors.
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The Artist as Scientist
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Here, Andreasen considers Shakespeare's astute clinical observation of mental illness in Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear in light of the Renaissance classification and treatment of mental disorders, and concludes that "Shakespeare the artist was a better observer by far than the physicians of his own time."
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Shakespeare's Psychiatry—And After
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The Language Of Madness
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The Language of Madness in the Renaissance
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In the following essay, Valesio discusses the Renaissance use of 'the language of folklore' to characterize the language of madness.
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The Language of Madwomen in Shakespeare and His Fellow Dramatists
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In the essay below, the critics examine the linguistic and staging conventions used by Shakespeare and other dramatists to represent 'madwomen' on the Elizabethan stage, contending that 'madwomen offered the dramatists an opportunity to write speeches of exuberant fancy and lyric grace.'
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The Language of Madness in the Renaissance
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Gender And Madness
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Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism
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Here, Showalter traces the 'iconography' of Shakespeare's Ophelia in a variety of art forms in order to reveal the representational connections between female sexuality and insanity.
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Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism
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Madness And Politics
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The Politics of Madness: Junius Brutus in Machiavelli and Shakespeare
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In the following essay, D'Amico examines the relationship between political power and madness in Shakespeare's plays and Renaissance thought, focusing in particular on the political and dramatic figure of Junius Brutus.
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'Suche Strange Desygns': Madness, Subjectivity, and Treason in Hamlet and Elizabethan Culture
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In this essay, Coddon uses the transgression and punishment of Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, as an example of how Shakespeare's depiction of madness functions within—and against—structures of Elizabethan power, and asserts that "Shakespeare's investigation of the interplay of unreason's 'strange desygns' and the 'wild minds' of the body politic stands in reciprocal rather than imitative relation to the offstage drama of disobedience and melancholy, treason and madness, that led Robert Devereux to the scaffold."
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The Politics of Madness: Junius Brutus in Machiavelli and Shakespeare
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- Further Reading
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Introduction
(summary)
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Magic and the Supernatural
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Introduction
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Magic and the supernatural play a significant role in the works of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries, reflecting a complex tapestry of Renaissance beliefs. During this period, intellectuals engaged deeply with neoplatonic and hermetic ideas, as observed in works by figures such as John Dee, who embodied the era's mingling of science and magic. Renaissance thinkers, influenced by figures like Pico della Mirandola, expanded human knowledge, blurring lines between the scientific and the mystical, as they probed the universe’s secrets. This intellectual backdrop informed the dramatic arts, where Shakespeare's plays mediated between elite philosophical ideas and popular folklore. Characters like Queen Mab in Romeo and Juliet and Robin Goodfellow in A Midsummer Night's Dream illustrate the integration of local myths into high art.
Shakespearean drama also draws from broader European traditions, as noted in Literary and Philosophical Background, intertwining classical influences with medieval narratives, which are crucial in shaping works like The Tempest. As Supernatural Intervention: Two Dramatic Traditions highlights, Elizabethan-Jacobean drama fused classical elements with Christian theater, enriching its portrayal of the supernatural. The persecution of witches during this time, as discussed in Witchcraft, influenced public perception and the dramatic representation of magic, reflecting societal fears and fascinations.
Shakespeare’s use of supernatural motifs exemplifies the dual nature of Renaissance magic: both a pursuit of divine knowledge and an element of entertainment, as seen in Prospero's character in The Tempest. Prospero represents the synthesis of the learned "magus" and the popular magician, embodying both philosophical idealism and practical feats, thus showcasing the era’s diverse attitudes towards magic. These dramatizations of supernatural elements were not merely for spectacle but also offered a means for audiences to explore profound existential questions, a theme further explored in Spectacles of Strangeness: The Staging of Supernatural Scenes.
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Renaissance Occult Thought
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Literary and Philosophical Background
(summary)
In the following essay, Traister examines religious, philosophical, and popular attitudes toward magic in the Renaissance that resulted in the literary and dramatic representation of the magician in the works of Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, and Shakespeare.
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Literary and Philosophical Background
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Witches, Ghosts, And Fairies
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Witchcraft
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In the following essay, Shumaker traces the course of the persecution of witches in Europe from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries.
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White Magic and Black Witches
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In the essay below, Salgaμdo examines the varying social responses to white and black witchcraft in Elizabethan England.
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Witchcraft
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Staging The Supernatural
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Supernatural Intervention: Two Dramatic Traditions
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In the following essay, Reed demonstrates that the Elizabethan-Jacobean drama of supernaturalism evolved from the fusion of classical sources, and especially the plays of Seneca, with the medieval Christian theater.
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Spectacles of Strangeness: The Staging of Supernatural Scenes
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In the essay below, Harris elucidates Elizabethan and Jacobean methods of staging supernatural scenes in the theater.
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Supernatural Intervention: Two Dramatic Traditions
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- Further Reading
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Introduction
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Marriage
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's works encompass a multitude of portrayals of marriage, reflecting its centrality to his dramatic oeuvre. Marriage in Shakespeare's plays serves as a thematic cornerstone, explored in various genres including comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances. It is depicted as a comedic resolution, a source of historical legitimacy, a tragic origin, and a point of romantic reconciliation. In The Taming of the Shrew, marriage is portrayed as a form of punishment with a comic twist, as Coppélia Kahn points out, and Measure for Measure presents it as a pragmatic solution to human sexuality. Ann Jennalie Cook discusses how Shakespeare's marriages often reflect extraordinary courtship situations that highlight the corruption and absurdities of the institution.
In comedies, marriage is a desired ending, yet scholars like Carol Thomas Neely argue these unions often showcase disruption and resistance, and Janet Adelman critiques the legitimacy of such unions. Conversely, Shakespeare's tragedies, such as Othello, explore marriage as a catalyst for disaster, as Michael D. Bristol illustrates with the concept of "charivari." Likewise, Lisa Hopkins considers how marriages in tragedies precipitate calamity, intertwining with themes of legitimacy, succession, and race.
Shakespeare's romances offer a more optimistic view on marriage. Stephen Orgel discusses The Tempest as a thematic exploration of reconciliation through marriage, while D'Orsay Pearson argues in A Midsummer Night's Dream that true matrimonial harmony stems not from male dominance, but from mutual tolerance and reciprocity. Additionally, Peggy Muñoz Simonds examines how Cymbeline dramatizes the Protestant ideal of marriage, reflecting moral and social values.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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‘As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks’: English Marriage and Shakespeare
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In the following essay, Ranald surveys the use of English matrimonial law as a thematic and plotting device in Shakespearean drama.
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Wooing and Wedding: Shakespeare's Dramatic Distortion of the Customs of His Time
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In the following essay, Cook illuminates differences between Shakespeare's dramatic representations of marriage and the social customs of Elizabethan and Jacobean England.
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‘I'll Look to Like’: Arranged Marriages in Shakespeare's Plays
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In the following essay, Gossett examines the tensions between romantic love and political expediency in Shakespeare's portrayal of arranged marriages in such plays as Love's Labour's Lost, Henry V, and The Tempest.
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Marrying Down: Negotiating a More Equal Marriage on the English Renaissance Stage
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Desens remarks on the efforts of women in such works as The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing, Cymbeline, and Othello to create an equal union between husband and wife by selecting men outside their own social rank.
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‘As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks’: English Marriage and Shakespeare
(summary)
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Criticism: Marriage In The Comedies
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The Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare's Mirror of Marriage
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In the following essay, Kahn describes The Taming of the Shrew as a farce in which Katherine “subverts her husband's power without attempting to challenge it,” and argues that the play satirizes the concept of male supremacy in marriage.
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Broken Nuptials in Shakespeare's Comedies
(summary)
In the following essay, Neely suggests that Shakespeare's comic marriages demonstrate varied patterns of disruption, postponement, or dislocation brought about by feminine resistance, female fear of submission, or a male perception of marriage as a threat to masculine friendship.
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Bed Tricks: On Marriage as the End of Comedy in All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure
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In the following essay, Adelman centers on Shakespeare's handling of the bed tricks in All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure and examines the plays' depictions of marriage as a socialized legitimation of sexuality.
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The Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare's Mirror of Marriage
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Criticism: Marriage In The Romances
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Prospero's Wife
(summary)
In the following essay, Orgel considers the absence of Prospero's wife in The Tempest in relation to the play's interconnected themes of marriage, legitimacy, power, control, and renunciation.
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Male Sovereignty, Harmony and Irony in A Midsummer Night's Dream
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In the following essay, Pearson contends that in A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare questioned the notion that male supremacy and feminine obedience lead to matrimonial harmony.
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The Marriage Topos in Cymbeline: Shakespeare's Variations on a Classical Theme
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In the following essay, Simonds studies Shakespeare's dramatization of the Protestant marriage ideal in Cymbeline through his references to classical emblematic imagery of the elm and vine.
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Prospero's Wife
(summary)
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Criticism: Marriage In The Tragedies
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Charivari and the Comedy of Abjection in Othello
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In the following essay, Bristol interprets Othello in terms of “charivari”—a carnivalesque ceremony of “unmarrying” meant as an objection to a socially inappropriate marriage, in this case the union of dark-skinned Othello and white Desdemona.
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‘No Offence i' th' World:’ Hamlet and Unlawful Marriage
(summary)
In the following essay, Jardine offers a feminist/new historicist reassessment of Gertrude's guilt in marrying her murdered husband's brother in Hamlet.
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Tragic Marriage
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In the following essay, Hopkins regards marriage as the source of tragedy in Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello.
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Charivari and the Comedy of Abjection in Othello
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Introduction
(summary)
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Marriage as Comic Closure
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Introduction
(summary)
One of the defining characteristics of Shakespearean comedy is its focus on marriage as a means of achieving comic closure. As explored by Lisa Hopkins of Sheffield Hallam University, Shakespeare frequently employs single or multiple marriages to conclude his comedies, such as in As You Like It, Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Twelfth Night. In these works, marriage often symbolizes the resolution of narrative conflicts and the restoration of social order, contrasting with the individual isolation typical of tragedy.
While marriage is a recurrent theme, Hopkins notes that the expected resolution through marriage is not always straightforward or achieved within the plays' narratives. This complexity challenges the traditional view of comic closure and invites audiences to reconsider their assumptions about the events portrayed, as observed in her analysis. Despite the anticipation of a harmonious ending, the plays often complicate the idealized view of marriage.
Hopkins argues that marriage serves as an effective counterbalance to tragedy by emphasizing continuity and community over individualism. This is illustrated in the symbolic gestures within the plays, such as the blessing of the bridal bed in A Midsummer Night's Dream. However, while Shakespeare's comedies seemingly reinforce societal norms and the patriarchal order, they also subtly question and disrupt these conventions. The plays frequently subvert the expected romantic resolutions, challenging the notion that all comedies must conclude with a marriage.
In summary, while Shakespearean comedies often appear conservative in their reaffirmation of societal structures, they also engage in a more radical exploration of marriage and social conventions. This duality makes them a rich subject for literary analysis, revealing both the adherence to and the questioning of the established social order.
- As You Like It
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- The Two Gentlemen Of Verona
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Introduction
(summary)
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Morality
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's exploration of morality in his plays remains a focal point for literary critics, reflecting on themes of ethical conflict, societal critique, and the depiction of evil. Although Shakespeare’s works move beyond the clear-cut allegorical figures of medieval morality plays, elements of these traditions permeate his narratives. Scholars like Alan C. Dessen and Mathew Winston have traced these influences in plays such as Richard III and Measure for Measure, highlighting the complex moral landscapes Shakespeare paints.
His tragedies often grapple with moral corruption, as illustrated in Macbeth, where Harvey Birenbaum examines Macbeth's awareness of his ethical breaches. The moral disintegration in Macbeth also invites examination from Carol Strongin Tufts, who focuses on the disruption of moral order, and Barbara Riebling, who interprets the play using Machiavellian principles. In Hamlet, the motif of moral choice is analyzed by Catherine Brown Tkacz through the imagery of fortune's wheel.
In contrast, Shakespeare’s comedies and romances engage with morality in social contexts. R. A. D. Grant interprets The Tempest as a meditation on divine Providence and authority, while Alice Rayner examines Twelfth Night for its moral oppositions that drive the comedic narrative. Similarly, Gene Fendt views As You Like It as a source of moral catharsis.
Religious themes also intersect with moral considerations in Shakespeare’s works. Austin C. Dobbins and Roy W. Battenhouse find theological justification in Jessica’s actions in The Merchant of Venice, while Michael H. Keefer addresses the theological complexities in King Lear, framing it as a critique of Calvinist ideas of predestination and grace. Through these varied approaches, Shakespeare’s plays continue to offer rich ground for examining the intricate interplay of morality, society, and human nature.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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Morality and Literature—The Necessary Conflict
(summary)
In the following essay, Hyman explores the tension between morality and aesthetics in literature, using King Lear as his focus.
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Moral Play Components in Shakespeare's Scenes
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In the following excerpt, Dessen discusses Shakespeare's adaptation of allegorical figures to his “late moral plays,” particularly regarding Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra, and Troilus and Cressida.
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Morality and Literature—The Necessary Conflict
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Criticism: Moral Corruption: Macbeth And Hamlet
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Consciousness and Responsibility in Macbeth
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In the following essay, Birenbaum studies the tragic consciousness—“the prolonged agony of awareness”—apparent in the moral decline of Macbeth.
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Shakespeare's Conception of Moral Order in Macbeth
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In the following essay, Tufts considers the disruption of moral order in Macbeth.
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Virtue's Sacrifice: A Machiavellian Reading of Macbeth
(summary)
In the following essay, Riebling probes the Machiavellian conflict between politics and morality in Macbeth.
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The Wheel of Fortune, the Wheel of State, and Moral Choice in Hamlet
(summary)
In the following essay, Tkacz interprets imagery of the wheel of fortune and the decaying state as these relate to the morality of Prince Hamlet's actions in Hamlet.
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Consciousness and Responsibility in Macbeth
(summary)
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Criticism: Morality And Society: Comedies And Romances
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Providence, Authority, and the Moral Life in The Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Grant surveys the moral purpose of The Tempest as both a theodicy and a disputation on the political structure of society.
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Shakespeare's Poesis: Use and Delight in Utopia
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In the following essay, Rayner examines the moral dimensions of appetite, virtue, and love in Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night.
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Resolution, Catharsis, Culture: As You Like It
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In the following essay, Fendt examines the comic catharsis in As You Like It, viewing the play's cultural and moral components.
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Providence, Authority, and the Moral Life in The Tempest
(summary)
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Criticism: Evil And Vice
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‘“Craft Against Vice’: Morality Play Elements in Measure for Measure
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In the following essay, Winston traces elements of the Tudor morality play in Measure for Measure, seeing the figure of Lucio as associated with allegorical 'Vice.'
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The Certainty of Evil: Richard III and Othello
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In the following essay, Jacobus analyzes two of Shakespeare's most thoroughly evil and manipulative characters, Richard III and Iago. He discusses how both characters possess a high degree of certainty and misuse it, manipulating the surfaces of reality regarding themselves, but with different outcomes in their respective plays.
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‘“Craft Against Vice’: Morality Play Elements in Measure for Measure
(summary)
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Criticism: Morality And Theology
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Jessica's Morals: A Theological View
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In the following essay, Dobbins and Battenhouse evaluate the morality of Jessica's actions in The Merchant of Venice, seeing her dissimulation as theologically justified.
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Accommodation and Synecdoche: Calvin's God in King Lear
(summary)
In the following essay, Keefer describes the means by which God is represented in the human terms of King Lear, observing Lear's actions as “a synecdochic parody of Calvinist predestination and grace.”
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Jessica's Morals: A Theological View
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Introduction
(summary)
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Music
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's plays are imbued with music, both as a thematic element and a dramatic device, appearing in approximately 32 plays and over 500 passages. Scholars like J. L. Styan highlight Shakespeare's deep engagement with classical and Neoplatonic music theories, which suggest music's ethical and moral dimensions, as seen in Catherine Dunn's discussion of Boethius' three branches of music: musica mundana, musica humana, and musica instrumentalis. These underscore music's potential to foster personal and social harmony, while also posing a threat, as perceived by Puritan critics of the time.
Shakespeare's incorporation of music often enhances characterization and narrative, as observed by W. H. Auden, who notes its dramatic efficacy. Similarly, Thelma N. Greenfield highlights music's narrative role across various plays, while R. W. Ingram discusses its complex integration in historical plays. Music's dual nature—both constructive and destructive—is further explored by David Lindley, who examines its philosophical implications in works like The Tempest.
In The Tempest, music is central to its thematic exploration. Theresa Coletti argues that music brings harmony from chaos, while Lindley and Jacquelyn Fox-Good explore its subversive and discordant roles, questioning its connection to societal order. Similarly, Leslie C. Dunn discusses Ophelia's songs in Hamlet as expressions of madness and defiance against patriarchal structures.
Music in Othello and The Merchant of Venice addresses themes of harmony and discord. Rosalind King interprets Desdemona's "willow song" as an emblem of her disintegration, and Marc Berley critiques the traditional reading of Lorenzo's speech in The Merchant of Venice as a satirical take on Neoplatonic musical theory. Overall, Shakespeare's use of music is multifaceted, serving to deepen thematic resonance and elicit varied audience responses.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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Music in Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following essay, Auden surveys the dramatic relevance of vocal and instrumental music in Shakespeare's plays.
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Nonvocal Music: Added Dimension in Five Shakespeare Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, Greenfield discusses the integral function of music in several Shakespearean plays. She focuses on musical imagery in Richard II; Lorenzo's discourse on music in Act V, scene v of The Merchant of Venice; the disparate effects of martial music in Coriolanus; and the patterns of sound that accompany crucial episodes in Hamlet and the murder of Duncan in Macbeth.
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The Function of Music in Shakespeare's Romances
(summary)
In the following essay, Dunn analyzes the music of Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest in terms of the traditional philosophical concepts of musica mundana, musica humana, and musica instrumentalis.
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Music as Structural Element in Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following essay, originally delivered as a lecture in 1971, Ingram explores Shakespeare's unconventional use of military music in the English history plays, especially Henry VI, Part 1. He also examines the way that parodic or ironic music underscores the dissonance between pretense and reality in Troilus and Cressida.
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Shakespeare's Fusion of the Arts
(summary)
In the following essay, Styan reviews many occasions of music and dance in Shakespeare's plays, arguing that their principal function is to manipulate audience response.
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Worlds of Sound
(summary)
In the following essay, Schmidgall compares Shakespearean play texts to musical scores. Schmidgall argues that, like operas, Shakespeare's plays are designed to appeal to audiences more attuned to listening than viewing.
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Music in Shakespeare
(summary)
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Criticism: Themes
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Music and The Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Coletti describes how music informs the emotional, atmospheric, philosophical, and structural design of The Tempest.
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Pericles: Shakespeare's Divine Musical Comedy
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In the following essay, originally delivered as a lecture in 1981, Meszaros explores the significance of music in Pericles.
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Music, Masque, and Meaning in The Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Lindley calls attention to the abrupt and dissonant endings of the two masques in The Tempest, and suggests that these discordant endings reflect Shakespeare's ambivalence toward the idea that music promotes human and social reconciliation.
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Twelfth Night: The Music of Time
(summary)
In the following essay, Thomson links the music of Twelfth Night—its lyricism as well as its musical interludes, ballads, and catches—to the prominence of hypothetical speeches by various characters, contending that the multiple “if” clauses in the play are part of Shakespeare's orchestration of the dialogue.
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‘Then Murder's out of Tune’: The Music and Structure of Othello
(summary)
In the following essay, King traces a pattern of musical metaphors and connotations in Othello that underscores the disintegration of the harmonious partnership between Othello and Desdemona. She contends that Iago's two songs, the military drums and trumpets, and Desdemona's “willow song” are integral to the play's narrative, characterization, and thematic development.
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Ophelia's Songs in Hamlet: Music, Madness, and the Feminine
(summary)
In the following essay, Dunn construes Ophelia's songs in Act IV, scene v as emblematic of resistance to—and estrangement from—the patriarchal order that links music with female sexuality and emotional excess. Dunn also comments on the way the onstage auditors of these songs attempt to impose their own meanings on them in order to allay the threat they represent.
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The Lady Sings in Welsh: Women's Song as Marginal Discourse on the Shakespearean Stage
(summary)
In the following essay, Dunn argues that Lady Mortimer's song in Act III, scene i of Henry IV, Part 1 represents a singular moment of a woman's domestic, erotic voice in a play dominated by male power struggle.
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Other Voices: The Sweet, Dangerous Air(s) of Shakespeare's Tempest.
(summary)
In the following essay, Fox-Good examines the subversive nature of music in The Tempest, and contends that music is employed by characters, such as Caliban and Ariel, who have been relegated to the margins of society and who use songs to voice their grievances and protest their subjugation.
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‘My Music for Nothing’: Musical Negotiations in The Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Iselin explores the relationship between music, myth, and politics in The Tempest, comparing classical and Renaissance views regarding the power and value of music and statecraft.
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Shakespeare and the ‘Sweet Power of Music.’
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Berley focuses on the dramatic context of Lorenzo's speech about music and harmony in Act V, scene i of The Merchant of Venice.
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Music and The Tempest
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Myth
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's works are deeply rooted in classical mythology, drawing extensively from Greek and Roman traditions. His plays and poetry are rich with mythological references, primarily influenced by Ovid's Metamorphoses. Shakespeare's engagement with myth is not merely decorative; critics like René Girard argue that he used myth to explore crises in human culture that demand resolution and transformation. The mythological allusions in Shakespeare's oeuvre not only enrich thematic complexity but also provide structural coherence to his works.
Various critics have examined how Shakespeare reworks these myths. For example, Barbara Roche Rico discusses Shakespeare's adaptation of the Pygmalion myth, while D.J. Palmer and A.B. Taylor focus on the Narcissus myth in Twelfth Night. Critics like O.B. Hardison and Peggy Muñoz Simonds analyze the mythological underpinnings in tragedies such as King Lear and Coriolanus, respectively, while Elizabeth Truax draws parallels between Macbeth and the mythological hero Hercules.
Shakespeare's mythological references also play a critical role in his comedies and late romances. Critics like Marjorie Garber and Janet S. Wolf note how these references provide a unifying aesthetic and thematic depth. The incorporation of myth often involves complex gender dynamics, as observed by Douglas Freake in his analysis of A Midsummer Night's Dream and its exploration of Theseus's myth.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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Myth and Naturalism: Merchant to Macbeth
(summary)
In the following essay, Brooke analyzes the juxtaposition of naturalism and myth in All's Well That Ends Well, Macbeth, and several other Shakespearean dramas.
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Shakespeare's Theory of Mythology
(summary)
In the following essay, Girard endeavors to reconstruct Shakespeare's view of mythology, and claims that Shakespeare employed myth to dramatize an essential “mimetic crisis” in human culture.
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Myth and Naturalism: Merchant to Macbeth
(summary)
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Criticism: Mythic Patterns In The Tragedies
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Antony and Cleopatra: The Limits of Mythology
(summary)
In the following essay, Fisch considers archetypal patterns of love/war and fertility/death associated with Roman and Egyptian mythological allusions in Antony and Cleopatra. The critic concludes by explaining the ways in which these mythological patterns are transcended at the close of the drama.
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Myth and History in King Lear
(summary)
In the following essay, Hardison traces parallels between King Lear and the story of the mythological king Ixion.
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Hamlet and Mythical Thought
(summary)
In the following essay, Lorant offers a mythical reading of Hamlet by viewing the tragedy's representation of a corrupted world degrading toward chaos and in need of a redeeming hero.
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Coriolanus and the Myth of Juno and Mars
(summary)
In the following essay, Simonds describes the figures of Coriolanus and Volumnia in Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus as personifications of the Roman gods Mars and Juno, respectively.
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Macbeth and Hercules: The Hero Bewitched
(summary)
In the following essay, Truax draws comparisons between Shakespeare's Macbeth and the mythological hero of Seneca's tragedy Hercules Furens.
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Antony and Cleopatra: A Mythological Perspective
(summary)
In the following essay, MacKenzie suggests that Shakespeare constructed parallels between the eponymous characters of Antony and Cleopatra and figures from Roman mythology, only to abandon this classical perspective later in the play in order to pursue a new mythology based upon the ideal of human love.
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Antony and Cleopatra: The Limits of Mythology
(summary)
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Criticism: Mythological Structure And Allusion: Romances And Comedies
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Myth and Type in As You Like It
(summary)
In the following essay, Knowles highlights a number of mythological allusions in As You Like It, specifically studying references to the classical hero Hercules and the Christian mythology associated with him.
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Cymbeline and the Languages of Myth
(summary)
In the following essay, Garber observes Shakespeare's use of classical mythology as a unifying force in Cymbeline.
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Myth and Ritual in Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream
(summary)
In the following essay, Girard explores the relationship between rhetoric, reversals, and conflicts of imitative desire in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Shakespeare's representation of “a serious genetic theory of myth” in the play.
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‘Like an Old Tale Still’: Paulina, ‘Triple Hecate,’ and the Persephone Myth in The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following essay, Wolf examines parallels between the leading female characters in Shakespeare's drama The Winter's Tale and the Greek goddesses Persephone, Demeter, and Hecate.
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A Midsummer Night's Dream as a Comic Version of the Theseus Myth
(summary)
In the following essay, Freake interprets Shakespeare's recasting of the classical myth of Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream, particularly focusing on issues of gender dynamics and patriarchal power contained in the story.
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Myth and Type in As You Like It
(summary)
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Criticism: Ovid's Metamorphoses: Shakespeare'S
Adaptation Of Myth
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Twelfth Night and the Myth of Echo and Narcissus
(summary)
In the following essay, Palmer examines Shakespeare's adaptation of Ovid's Echo and Narcissus myth in Twelfth Night.
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Ovid's Metamorphoses and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
(summary)
In the following essay, Lamb studies Shakespeare's use of internalized metamorphosis in his representation of Orsino and Olivia, as well as his application of “Ovidian” rhetoric in Twelfth Night.
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Lavinia's Message: Shakespeare and Myth
(summary)
In the following essay, Mowat detects the presence of classical myths from Ovid's Metamorphoses as structuring principles in Shakespeare's plays Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice.
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From ‘Speechless Dialect’ to ‘Prosperous Art’: Shakespeare's Recasting of the Pygmalion Image
(summary)
In the following essay, Rico follows Shakespeare's treatment of the Pygmalion myth in his dramas The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, and The Winter's Tale.
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Shakespeare Rewriting Ovid: Olivia's Interview with Viola and the Narcissus Myth
(summary)
In the following essay, Taylor details Shakespeare's reshaping of the Narcissus myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses in the Olivia-Viola-Orsino relationship of Twelfth Night.
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Twelfth Night and the Myth of Echo and Narcissus
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Pastoral in Shakespeare's Works
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's diverse use of the pastoral genre reveals his intricate engagement with this literary tradition, which often idealizes rural life as a counter to the complexities of urban existence. In plays like As You Like It, Shakespeare departs from the pastoral conventions by depicting the Forest of Arden as a place not of idealized simplicity but one mirroring societal complexities, as noted by Peter Lindenbaum and Alastair Fowler. This reflects a broader theme in Shakespeare's work where pastoral settings do not serve as mere idealized retreats but as lenses through which human nature is scrutinized and criticized.
In The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare modifies traditional pastoral motifs to explore themes such as love and reality, as discussed by Jerry H. Bryant. The play's depiction of Bohemia challenges the notion of rural innocence, suggesting instead a reflection of courtly corruption, a perspective shared by Richard Studing. Philip M. Weinstein highlights the play’s oscillation between decay and regeneration.
In The Tempest, the pastoral is woven into a narrative of redemption and societal harmony, as Thomas McFarland suggests, yet Ronald B. Bond and Kevin Pask argue it subverts pastoral expectations by emphasizing responsibility and political ambition over idyllic escape.
In tragedies like King Lear and Othello, the pastoral serves as a vehicle for exploring human folly and redemption. Nancy R. Lindheim highlights Lear's journey towards compassion in a pastoral context, while Lisa Hopkins notes Othello's Venice as a dystopian inversion of pastoral ideals.
- Further Reading
-
Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
-
Shakespeare's Golden Worlds
(summary)
In the following essay, Lindenbaum traces the development of Shakespeare's anti-pastoral sentiment in his works. Beginning with The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the critic notes that the forest in this early play is sentimentalized, a place of idleness (otium) where none of society's rules apply or must be obeyed. By contrast, he argues, the pastoral realms of his later plays, including As You Like It, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest, are not that different from the ordinary world in that they all endorse the idea that one must accept personal responsibility and actively engage in life.
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Pastoral Speakers
(summary)
In the following essay, Alpers identifies Shakespearean characters who, like Melibee and Colin Clout in Spenser's Faerie Queene, assume the role of the traditional literary shepherd to assert pastoral virtues and values. Alpers describes the following characters as “representative shepherds”: Costard in Love's Labour's Lost, Corin in As You Like It, the grave-digger in Hamlet, and Florizel, Perdita, Autolycus, and Polixenes in Act IV of The Winter's Tale.
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Shakespeare's Golden Worlds
(summary)
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Criticism: Pastoral Elements In The Comedies
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Pastoral Instruction in As You Like It
(summary)
In the following essay, a printed version of a lecture delivered at the University of London on February 18, 1984, Fowler discusses As You Like It as a blend of genres with a particular indebtedness to 'realistic pastoral.' The critic maintains that the Forest of Arden is not a timeless, static world but rather one in which time must be spent in productive activity, especially in learning the significance of human mortality and the meaning of faithfulness in love.
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Pastoral and Parody in The Merry Wives of Windsor
(summary)
In the following essay, Slights maintains that in The Merry Wives of Windsor "the pastoral values of simplicity, humility, and fidelity are elusive and transitory but always accessible." The critic also points out that Windsor is not like Sidney's Arcadia—a golden or green world—but is instead a retreat that combines two traditions: pastoral as a place of innocence and pastoral as a celebration of 'sensual gratification.'
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Amorous Fictions and As You Like It
(summary)
In following essay, Gibbons remarks on the influence of Sidney's Arcadia and Lodge's Rosalynde on Shakespeare's treatment of pastoral in As You Like It.
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Pastoral Instruction in As You Like It
(summary)
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Criticism: Pastoral Elements In The Romances
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The Winter's Tale and the Pastoral Tradition
(summary)
In the following essay, Bryant comments on parallels between The Winter's Tale and a number of pastoral poems and plays that preceded it, emphasizing Shakespeare's modifications of traditional pastoral motifs and conventions. In particular, the critic addresses Shakespeare's treatment of the themes of love, faithfulness, and appearance versus reality.
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An Interpretation of Pastoral in The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following essay, Weinstein discusses the contradictory conceptions of pastoral in The Winter's Tale, noting in particular that the play highlights the theme of regeneration as well as the motifs of death and decay.
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So Rare a Wondered Father: The Tempest and the Vision of Paradise
(summary)
In the following essay, McFarland views The Tempest as an affirmation of pastoral values that combines Christian and pastoral perspectives. The critic maintains that Prospero is a godlike figure who presides over a golden world, a place of social harmony where evil is defeated.
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Labour, Ease, and The Tempest as Pastoral Romance
(summary)
In the following essay, Bond contends that The Tempest diverges from the pastoral tradition by depicting idleness (otium) as a moral weakness and work or devotion to a task (negotium) as a virtue.
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Shakespeare's Bohemia Revisited: A Caveat
(summary)
In the following essay, Studing argues that Act IV of The Winter's Tale demonstrates that rural Bohemia is not a refuge from the vices of the court but rather a similarly corrupt world.
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The Pastoral Reckoning in Cymbeline
(summary)
In the following essay, Taylor considers the distinction in Cymbeline between Imogen's fantasy of “pastoral innocence” and her awakening next to the headless corpse of Cloten, whom she mistakes for the body of her husband Posthumus. Taylor calls attention to the hyperbolic language of the play, as well as to the harsh and “unsentimental” pastoral setting in which Imogen finds herself.
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Prospero's Counter-Pastoral
(summary)
In the following essay, Pask analyzes a number of Prospero's actions in The Tempest that are incongruous with the values of the pastoral genre. The most prominent of these, the critic claims, are Prospero's masterminding of the marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda to serve imperialist aims and the denial of Caliban's claim to the sovereignty of the island through his mother Sycorax.
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The Winter's Tale and the Pastoral Tradition
(summary)
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Criticism: Pastoral Elements In The Tragedies
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King Lear as Pastoral Tragedy
(summary)
In the following essay, Lindheim examines the pastoral elements in King Lear and maintains that in the play Lear comes to understand such pastoral concerns as how individuals should interact with nature and society and the importance of demonstrating pity and compassion for others.
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‘This is Venice: My house is not a grange’: Othello's Landscape of the Mind
(summary)
In the following essay, Hopkins views Othello as a reversal of the pastoral pattern of a retreat to an idealized world where regeneration occurs. The critic maintains that in Othello Venice represents a pastoral inversion, a desolate place rather than a setting that fosters self-education and personal renewal.
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King Lear as Pastoral Tragedy
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Politics and Power
-
Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's treatment of politics and power has captivated scholars, who have long explored the relationship between his plays and the political dynamics of his era. While early critics often sought to directly link Shakespeare’s works to specific historical figures or events, modern scholarship tends to focus on the broader themes of social, intellectual, and political thought that permeate his works. As noted by Bevington, attempts have been made to connect the plays’ actions to Tudor England's topical events, though this approach has evolved over time.
Shakespeare's plays are often examined for their depiction of unequal power relationships, as discussed in Hunter's lecture on political theater. While some critics argue about Shakespeare's depth of knowledge regarding political history, the consensus is that his works offer layered interpretations that resonate with both contemporary and historical political situations, as observed by Alvis. These layers provided entertainment and insight to a diverse audience, from the common groundlings to politically savvy courtiers, as Shakespeare portrayed in Hamlet.
Shakespeare’s plays, therefore, serve as a platform for exploring political ideologies and social structures, where he skillfully embeds political commentary that may have been discernible only to his most educated audiences. This multi-dimensional approach allows his works to remain relevant, as they reflect both explicit political subject matter and broader social issues, a point emphasized by Wells. Furthermore, as Rackin and D'Amico highlight, Shakespeare's treatment of political history in both Elizabethan and Roman contexts underscores his keen insight into the dynamics of power and authority.
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Overviews
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Political Philosophy and Poetry
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Bloom places Shakespeare within the Elizabethan tradition of politically aware creative writers who consciously conveyed political themes in their works.
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Social Assent and Dissent in Shakespeare's Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, Spencer examines the attitudes toward a stable, politically regulated society professed by various characters.
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Introductory: Shakespearean Poetry and Politics
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Alvis posits that Shakespeare deliberately created multiple levels of meaning in his plays, embedding pointed political commentary that would be comprehensible only to a small, cultured, and educated segment of his audience.
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Shakespearean Comedy and Tragedy: Implicit Political Analogies
(summary)
In the following essay, Heilman examines the contrast in Shakespeare's plays between the implicit acknowledgment that a larger social and political order imposes obligations and restrictions on the individual and the sympathetic presentation of assertive individuals disregarding or defying that larger order.
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Political Philosophy and Poetry
(summary)
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Politics And The Tudor Theater
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Introduction: Some Approaches to Topical Meaning
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Bevington summarizes scholars' attempts to link the action of Shakespeare's plays to specific topical events in Tudor England.
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Political Theater in Shakespeare—and Later
(summary)
In the following excerpt from a lecture, Hunter examines the explicitly political subject matter of Shakespeare's plays as well as their exploration of unequal power relationships between individuals, societies, and institutions.
-
An introduction to Shakespeare, Politics and the State
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Wells maintains that Shakespeare's works are topical, not in the sense that they contain direct references to contemporary events, but in their treatment of general social and political issues.
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Introduction: Some Approaches to Topical Meaning
(summary)
-
Elizabethan England
-
Making History
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Rackin examines Shakespeare's treatment of Elizabethan political history.
-
Making History
(summary)
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Rome
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Shakespeare's Rome: Politics and Theater
(summary)
In the following essay, D'Amico examines Shakespeare's dramatic treatment of Roman politics and history.
-
Shakespeare's Rome: Politics and Theater
(summary)
- Further Reading
-
Introduction
(summary)
-
Psychoanalytic Interpretations of Shakespeare's Works
-
Introduction
(summary)
Psychoanalytic interpretations have significantly enriched the study of William Shakespeare's works, leveraging insights from Freudian theories and other psychological frameworks. The application of psychoanalysis began in earnest in the twentieth century, with critics exploring themes of unconscious motivation, neurosis, jealousy, and sexual desire across Shakespeare's plays. This approach has been particularly fruitful in analyzing the major tragedies like Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear, which offer fertile ground for exploring Freud's theories. Moreover, psychoanalytic criticism has often been intertwined with feminist and gender theories, enhancing the understanding of Shakespeare’s comedies, histories, and romances as well.
Critics have identified a range of psychological themes in Shakespeare’s work. For instance, Janet Adelman has explored the aggressive masculinity and dependency in Coriolanus, while jealousy is a central theme in both Othello and The Winter's Tale. The Henriad has been analyzed through a psychoanalytic-feminist lens by Valerie Traub, who examines the implications of patriarchal oppression on female characters.
Additionally, M. D. Faber and others have cautioned against an overly narrow focus in psychoanalytic criticism, while figures like Norman N. Holland have explored contrasting psychological themes in works like The Merchant of Venice and Romeo and Juliet. Richard P. Wheeler has further classified Shakespeare's later plays through psychological polarities such as trust versus isolation, highlighting the enduring relevance and versatility of psychoanalytic criticism in Shakespearean scholarship.
-
Overviews
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A Psychoanalytic Study of Shakespeare's Early Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, originally delivered as a lecture in 1963, Ravich presents a psychoanalytic overview of Shakespeare's eleven earliest plays and highlights the dramatist's conception of mental disorder.
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The Psychological Continuum
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Holland surveys the patterns of psychological criticism typically applied to Shakespeare's plays.
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'Since First We Were Dissevered': Trust and Autonomy in Shakespearean Tragedy and Romance
(summary)
In the following essay, Wheeler explores the psychological polarities associated with seeking self-fulfillment in Shakespeare's late tragedies and romances.
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A Psychoanalytic Study of Shakespeare's Early Plays
(summary)
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Patriarchy, Gender, And Family
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Interpreting Posthumus' Dream from Above and Below: Families, Psychoanalysis, and Literary Critics
(summary)
In the following essay, Skura emphasizes the psychological importance of family in Shakespeare's Cymbeline.
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Subjectivity, Desire and Female Friendship in All's Well That Ends Well
(summary)
In the following essay, Asp analyzes the character of Helena in All's Well That Ends Well, maintaining that her motivations and actions point toward a re-evaluation of female desire and a critique of the patriarchal social order.
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Prince Hal's Falstaff: Positioning Psychoanalysis and the Female Reproductive Body
(summary)
In the following essay, Traub considers how Falstaff and Katherine of Shakespeare's Henriad are constructed as female Others who must be repudiated or subjugated in order for Prince Hal to assume phallocentric control as King Henry V and thus suggest ways in which the phallocentric order might be undermined.
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Interpreting Posthumus' Dream from Above and Below: Families, Psychoanalysis, and Literary Critics
(summary)
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Jealousy: Othello And The Winter's Tale
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Othello: Jealousy as Mimetic Contagion
(summary)
In the following essay, Wilson locates Iago as the source of a "contagion of mimetic desire" in Othello.
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Recasting Jealousy: A Reading of The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following essay, Ronk investigates the psychological transformation of Leontes from a state of intense jealousy to one of penitence in The Winter's Tale.
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Othello: Jealousy as Mimetic Contagion
(summary)
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Internal Conflict: Coriolanus And Measure For Measure
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'Anger's My Meat': Feeding, Dependency, and Aggression in Coriolanus
(summary)
In the following essay, originally presented in 1976, Adelman examines the psychology of Coriolanus in Shakespeare's play of the same name, illuminating his desire for masculine self-sufficiency and dependency on his mother.
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The Inner Conflicts of Measure for Measure: A Psychological Approach
(summary)
In the following essay, Paris applies the psychological theories of Karen Horney to Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, seeing in the character of the Duke and in the work's 'implied author' a conflict of perfectionism and self-effacement.
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Annihilating Intimacy in Coriolanus
(summary)
In the following essay, originally presented in 1982, Sprengnether employs pre-Oedipal psychoanalytic theory in her discussion of Coriolanus, arguing that the drama represents the culmination of the dominant gender-related themes in Shakespeare's tragedies.
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'Anger's My Meat': Feeding, Dependency, and Aggression in Coriolanus
(summary)
- Further Reading
-
Introduction
(summary)
-
Race
-
Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's works have become a focal point for discussions on race, scrutinizing how racial "others" are depicted. Scholars have noted that while Shakespeare's use of "race" often alluded to noble lineage, contemporary critics reveal that race is a critical locus of conflict in plays like Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, and Titus Andronicus. These dramas explore tensions between white, Christian Europeans and outsiders such as blacks, Jews, Muslims, and Indians. While Shakespeare presents stereotypes, he frequently transcends these to offer nuanced portrayals of racial interactions.
Othello and The Merchant of Venice are notable for their racial themes, with characters like Othello and Shylock highlighting racial differences. Titus Andronicus, through the character of Aaron, a black Moor, addresses racial discrimination. Critics like Edward T. Washington and Jeannette S. White suggest Aaron transcends stereotypes by revealing hidden virtues, despite his seemingly evil exterior.
Race intertwined with gender is another critical theme. In The Tempest, Lorie Jerrell Leininger highlights the oppression of Miranda and Caliban, while Kim F. Hall and Joyce Green MacDonald examine the sexualized threat posed by Caliban and Cleopatra, respectively. Cleopatra's portrayal underscores themes of racial and sexual danger to imperial culture.
Postcolonial readings of The Tempest provide further exploration of racial themes. Rob Nixon notes the play's adoption by African and Caribbean intellectuals as a critique of imperialism. Jyotsna G. Singh views Caliban as an emblem of revolutionary resistance, while Richard Takaki connects Caliban to American colonial narratives. Barbara Fuchs extends these interpretations to the historical context of English imperialism in regions like Ireland and the Mediterranean.
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Out of the Matrix: Shakespeare and Race-Writing
(summary)
In the following essay, Crewe examines the “racializing potential” of Shakespeare's drama and poetry, arguing that “race is ubiquitous in Shakespeare's work.”
- Further Reading
-
Criticism: Race And Colonialism
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Caribbean and African Appropriations of The Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Nixon focuses on the anticolonial interpretations of The Tempest set forth by African and Caribbean intellectuals of the period from the late 1950s to early 1970s.
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The Tempest in the Wilderness: The Racialization of Savagery
(summary)
In the following essay, Takaki probes The Tempest's relation to the English colonization of America, interpreting Caliban as representative of a “savage” American Indian figure.
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‘Obscured by Dreams’: Race, Empire, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
(summary)
In the following essay, Hendricks examines Shakespeare's “figurative evocation” of India in A Midsummer Night's Dream, probing “the play's complicity in the racialist ideologies being created by early modern England's participation in imperialism.”
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Caliban Versus Miranda: Race and Gender Conflicts in Postcolonial Rewritings of The Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Singh studies postcolonial readings of The Tempest, which emphasize the role of Caliban as a prototype of the modern revolutionary due to his engagement in a power struggle with Prospero.
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Conquering Islands: Contextualizing The Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Fuchs extends typical colonialist interpretations of The Tempest to include the play's references to European imperialism in Ireland and the Islamic Mediterranean.
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Caribbean and African Appropriations of The Tempest
(summary)
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Criticism: Race And Gender
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The Miranda Trap: Sexism and Racism in Shakespeare's Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Leininger discusses the oppression of women and non-whites—personified in the characters of Miranda and Caliban, respectively—in The Tempest.
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Marriages of State: The Tempest and Antony and Cleopatra
(summary)
In the excerpt below, Hall evaluates the racial and sexual threat to imperial culture posed by Caliban and Cleopatra in The Tempest and Antony and Cleopatra, respectively.
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Sex, Race, and Empire in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra
(summary)
In the following essay, MacDonald explores the implications of a black Cleopatra who uses her sexuality to thwart Roman imperial power.
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The Miranda Trap: Sexism and Racism in Shakespeare's Tempest
(summary)
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Criticism: Titus Andronicus: Aaron
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Tragic Resolution in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
(summary)
In the following essay, Washington argues that the figure of Aaron transcends the Renaissance representation of blacks as stereotypical dramatic emblems of evil.
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‘Is Black So Base a Hue?’: Shakespeare's Aaron and the Politics and Poetics of Race
(summary)
In the following essay, White contends that Aaron in Titus Andronicus subverts the Elizabethan notion that equates blackness with evil.
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Tragic Resolution in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
(summary)
-
Introduction
(summary)
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Religion and Theology
-
Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's plays are rich with religious and theological dimensions, explored through themes, biblical allusions, and subtexts. While scholars do not speculate on Shakespeare's personal religious beliefs, they investigate his portrayal of the religious disputes of early modern England, particularly those related to the Reformation. His works reflect an understanding of these conflicts and Christian discourse, as seen in various genres.
In examining Shakespearean tragedy, Helen Gardner highlights Shakespeare's biblical knowledge, particularly in King Lear, connecting its themes to Christian views on human existence. René Fortin finds both Christian and secular interpretations valid, while Daryl Tippins suggests it can be viewed as nihilistic or transcendent. In Hamlet, Alan Sinfield argues the play critiques both humanism and Calvinist justice. Ronald G. Shafer portrays Hamlet's journey back to Christian values. Religious differences are explored in Othello by Julia Reinhard Lupton, who contrasts the Moor's Christian heroism with exclusion from universal brotherhood.
Religious motifs also pervade Shakespeare's comedies. In The Merchant of Venice, Paul A. Cantor notes the complex depiction of Christianity and Judaism. G. M. Pinciss examines Measure for Measure's Protestant themes of despair and salvation. Maurice Hunt's analysis of Twelfth Night reveals satirical elements of Puritanism, while David N. Beauregard interprets All's Well that Ends Well through Catholic teachings on grace.
In the histories, Robert G. Hunter and Roy Battenhouse offer differing views on characters like Falstaff and Henry V, highlighting their roles in religious narratives. In Richard III, R. Chris Hassel, Jr. draws parallels to the Book of Revelation, emphasizing eschatological themes. Through these works, Shakespeare's plays reveal a profound engagement with the theological landscapes of his time.
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Introduction: An Overview of Christian Interpretation
(summary)
In the following essay, Battenhouse surveys 150 years of commentary on the Christian aspects of Shakespeare's art.
- Further Reading
-
Criticism: Themes
-
Shakespeare's Comic Sense as It Strikes Us Today: Falstaff and the Protestant Ethic
(summary)
In the following essay, originally presented in 1976, Hunter views Falstaff as the antithesis of the Protestant ethic.
-
Hermeneutical Circularity and Christian Interpretations of King Lear
(summary)
In the essay below, Fortin asserts that a Christian reading of King Lear is as compatible with the “facts” of the play as a secular one, but that neither one is authoritative. Noting that the death of Cordelia is the principal impediment for Christian interpreters, he suggests that the play's ending, far from contradicting Christian doctrine, confirms the Catholic and Protestant notion of God's judgments as unknown and inexplicable.
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Hamlet's Special Province
(summary)
In the following essay, Sinfield discusses the connection between Hamlet's reference to “a special providence in the fall of a sparrow” and the question of whether the play's conception of the world is pagan or Christian.
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Shakespeare's Use of Religious Controversy in King John
(summary)
In the following essay, Bryant maintains that in King John Shakespeare was able to achieve a measure of objectivity in his treatment of late fifteenth-century religious disputes.
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Henry V in the Light of Erasmus
(summary)
In this essay, Battenhouse evaluates Henry V in terms of the principles set forth by the sixteenth-century Catholic humanist Erasmus in his Praise of Folly and The Education of a Christian Prince, contending that Shakespeare presents Henry as a monarch who repeatedly evades personal responsibility and only counterfeits the role of ideal Christian king.
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Last Words and Last Things: St. John, Apocalypse, and Eschatology in Richard III
(summary)
In the following essay, Hassel calls attention to similarities in substance, style, and structure between Richard III and the Book of Revelation. Characterizing the play as a vivid depiction of earthly apocalypse, he remarks on its repeated allusions to the day of final judgment, the prophetic visions of Clarence, Richard, and Edmund, and the contrasting portraits of Richmond as an agent of divine retribution and Richard as a diabolic Antichrist.
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Religion and the Limits of Community in The Merchant of Venice
(summary)
In the following essay, Cantor identifies devotion to religious principles as the quality that links Shylock and Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, asserting harmony is only achieved by the defeat of both the Jew and the merchant, whose commitment to the values of their respective religions threatens the traditional values of comedy.
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The ‘Heavenly Comforts of Despair’ and Measure for Measure
(summary)
In the following essay, Pinciss contends that in his role as friar, Duke Vincentio assays the spiritual well-being of each of the central characters in Measure for Measure, successfully guiding Claudio, Angelo, and Isabella from a state of religious despair to a renewed faith in God's forgiveness and their own salvation.
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Hamlet: Christian or Humanist?
(summary)
In the essay below, Shafer charts what he sees as Hamlet's temporary abandonment of Christian principles for the precepts of humanism—and his ultimate reversion to orthodox religious values. In his humanistic phase, the critic proposes, Hamlet is arrogant and egotistical, elevating his own volition above God's sovereignty, but after he acknowledges the righteousness of Christian morality, he humbly submits himself to God's will and becomes an agent of divine retribution.
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The Religion of Twelfth Night.
(summary)
In the following essay, Hunt discusses the attitudes toward providence expressed by various characters in Twelfth Night, as well as the play’s satirical treatment of Puritanism.
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Othello Circumcised: Shakespeare and the Pauline Discourse of Nations
(summary)
In this essay, Lupton maintains that in Othello religious difference is more significant than racial difference, for—according to Renaissance doctrine—if the Moor was a Muslim rather than a pagan before his conversion to Christianity, he is forever barred from the congregation of universal brotherhood.
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‘Can you make no use of nothing?’: Nihilism and Meaning in King Lear and The Madness of King George
(summary)
In the following essay, Tippins offers a reading of King Lear that attempts to mediate between absurdist or pessimistic interpretations of the play and religious or redemptive ones.
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‘Inspirèd Merit’: Shakespeare's Theology of Grace in All's Well that Ends Well
(summary)
In the essay below, Beauregard asserts that Roman Catholic teachings regarding sin, repentance, and salvation are central to the plot and characterization of All's Well that Ends Well. The first half of the play is concerned with the concepts of miracle and merit and the second with pilgrimage and prayer, the critic contends, and together the two parts delineate the Catholic doctrines of grace, merit, and free will.
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Shakespeare's Comic Sense as It Strikes Us Today: Falstaff and the Protestant Ethic
(summary)
-
Introduction
(summary)
-
Revenge
-
Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's engagement with the theme of revenge is a significant aspect of his work, particularly through the lens of the Elizabethan and Jacobean revenge tragedy genre. This genre was notably shaped by Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. While critics debate the extent to which Shakespeare adhered to or diverged from these conventions, it is clear that his plays delve deeply into the moral and ethical complexities of revenge, as argued by critics like Eleanor Prosser and Michael Cameron Andrews. While Prosser suggests that Shakespeare condemned personal retaliation, Andrews posits that Shakespeare understood the instinctive human desire for vengeance.
Hamlet and Titus Andronicus are often highlighted for their alignment with revenge tragedy conventions. Critics such as Charles and Elaine Hallett and Mark Rose emphasize Shakespeare's innovation in these plays, noting Hamlet's philosophical and personal struggle with the act of revenge. John Kerrigan and David Scott Kastan argue that Hamlet ultimately views revenge as futile, a sentiment echoed by Michael Neill who suggests that revenge leads to the revenger mirroring the villain.
In Titus Andronicus, the cycle of revenge is depicted through the mirroring of villainy by the protagonist, as Douglas E. Green observes. The play’s rhetoric and disconnection between language and emotional truths are noted by Lawrence N. Danson. This complexity in themes indicates Shakespeare’s exploration of revenge beyond mere violence, engaging with broader narrative and ethical concerns.
Shakespeare's treatment of revenge extends beyond tragedy. In The Tempest, Michael Neill and James Black explore Prospero's shift from vengeance to forgiveness, while Karen Robertson identifies elements of revenge in Twelfth Night through Maria's plot against Malvolio, showcasing Shakespeare's nuanced treatment of the theme across different genres and character dynamics.
- Further Reading
-
Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
-
Hamlet and the Shape of Revenge
(summary)
In the following essay, Rose asserts that Hamlet, having had the role of revenger imposed upon him by the ghost, endeavors to redefine the part and mold it according to his own moral and aesthetic values.
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Shakespeare and Revenge
(summary)
In the following essay, Prosser surveys a number of examples of Shakespearean characters who either choose or decline to pursue personal vengeance. She finds no evidence that Shakespeare's plays portray private revenge as divinely sanctioned, required by a code of honor, or justified by social convention; instead, she argues, they repeatedly link revenge with such pernicious traits as irrationality, impulsiveness, and madness.
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The Device of Wonder: Titus Andronicus and Revenge Tragedies
(summary)
In the following essay, Danson contends that as in the great Elizabethan dramas that followed it, the supreme tragic action in Titus Andronicus is not revenge but the formalization of death.
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Hamlet: Revenge and the Critical Mirror
(summary)
In the following essay, Andrews challenges the notion that Shakespeare's plays adhere to orthodox religious and ethical precepts that condemn the pursuit of personal revenge. Using Titus Andronicus as his chief example, the critic maintains that Elizabethan audiences might have responded sympathetically to revenge figures if their cause was just and that Shakespeare himself withheld moral judgment in the case of at least some of his blood revengers.
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Hamlet
(summary)
In the following essay, the Halletts offer a detailed appraisal of Hamlet in terms of Shakespeare's merger of the traditional revenge tragedy form with his broader vision of the tragic consequences of the search for truth. Emphasizing that the play and its protagonists represent unique expressions of this form, the critics demonstrate Shakespeare's refinements and alterations of a number of revenge conventions.
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Hieronimo, Hamlet and Remembrance
(summary)
In the following essay, Kerrigan discusses the connection between revenge and remembering in Shakespeare's Hamlet and Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, with special reference to The Choephoroe of Aeschylus. Preoccupation with the past is a hallmark of both Elizabethan tragedies, Kerrigan notes, but he points out a significant difference: Whereas Kyd's protagonist Hieronimo avenges his son by slaying his murderers, Hamlet, believing that vengeance is futile, honors his father's memory but does not kill Claudius expressly in revenge for his father’s death.
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Remembrance and Revenge: Hamlet, Macbeth and The Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Neill discusses the theme of revenge in Hamlet, Macbeth, and The Tempest. He asserts that Hamlet and Macbeth are antitypes—the first seeking to preserve the past and the second to obliterate it—and contends that both are destroyed by their obsession. By contrast, Neill suggests, Prospero redeems the past not by revenging it but by restoring it.
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Shakespeare and the Comedy of Revenge
(summary)
In the following essay, Black suggests that The Tempest may be read as a “revenge comedy” that features a protagonist who has the power to retaliate for wrongs done to him yet chooses not to do so. He calls attention to the many elements the play has in common with conventional revenge tragedy, particularly Hamlet.
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‘His semblable is his mirror’: Hamlet and the Imitation of Revenge
(summary)
In the following essay, Kastan asserts that Hamlet tries to persuade himself that revenge is a means of restoring the past, but ultimately rejects vengeance, both because it is futile and because it entails replicating the crime that incited it.
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Interpreting ‘her martyr'd signs’: Gender and Tragedy in Titus Andronicus
(summary)
In the following essay, Green suggests that the female characters in Titus Andronicus are reflections of the protagonist and that his revenge mirrors theirs, even as it obscures their suffering and distress. Green maintains that both Tamora and Lavinia represent a threat to patriarchal power: Tamora, because the murder of her son gives her just cause to seek retribution; and Lavinia, because if she could speak she would tell of her domination by male authority, in the persons of her kinsmen as well as her rapists.
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The Blood that Fury Breathed: The Shape of Justice in Aeschylus and Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following essay, Roth remarks on the parallels between Aeschylus's Eumenides and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, with special reference to their depictions of the conflict between old and new orders of revenge and justice.
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A Revenging Feminine Hand in Twelfth Night
(summary)
In the following essay, Robertson focuses on the gulling scene (Act III, scene iv) in Twelfth Night, emphasizing the rarity of a revenge perpetrated by a woman. She asserts that Maria's literacy skills as well as her shrewd understanding of Malvolio's vulnerability are hallmarks of a person capable of challenging established orders of social hierarchy.
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Putting out the Light: A ‘Snuff’ Variant?
(summary)
In the following essay, Madelaine analyzes the murder of Desdemona in the context of climactic scenes of death and violence in English revenge tragedies. The critic argues that although Shakespeare made use of the dramatic conventions associated with such “snuff” scenes and anticipated audience response to his depiction of erotic violence, he modified these conventions and challenged that response by highlighting Othello's alienation and depicting Desdemona as innocent of lust.
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Hamlet and the Shape of Revenge
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Ritual and Ceremony in Shakespeare's Plays
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's plays intricately weave ritual and ceremony into their narratives, illuminating the delicate balance between order and chaos in society. Scholars assert that these traditional observances express cultural continuity and belief in universal order, yet their subversion often leads to societal disruption. In Richard II, critics such as Barbara D. Palmer and Richard Harrier highlight the perversion of ceremony as both a reflection and cause of Richard's downfall. Naomi Conn Liebler argues that both Richard and Bolingbroke disrupt traditional order. In the Henry IV plays, critics like Minoru Fujita and Derek Cohen explore how royal pageantry is manipulated, contrasting with Falstaff's irreverence.
Shakespeare's tragedies further investigate the disruption of sacred customs. In Hamlet, Susan Letzler Cole examines how the absence of proper funeral rites fuels Hamlet's existential crisis. Similarly, Stephen X. Mead notes the ritualistic violence in Titus Andronicus as the catalyst for chaos, while Gillian Murray Kendall critiques the hollow ceremonial combat in King Lear as exposing the futility of human constructs meant to establish order. Mark Rose presents Julius Caesar as a depiction of ritual's failure to restore harmony, leading instead to further discord.
In his comedies, Shakespeare also explores transformative rituals. Susan Baker and Frank Nicholas Clary analyze As You Like It and A Midsummer Night's Dream, respectively, focusing on the transformative power of ceremony to challenge and redefine societal norms, with Baker emphasizing the audience's shared experience of transformation, and Clary examining ritual as a means of societal integration.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Ritual And Ceremony In The Comedies
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Shakespeare and Ritual: The Example of As You Like It
(summary)
In the following essay, Baker examines the rites of passage that the characters undergo in As You Like It and suggests that Shakespeare intended the theatrical experience of life in the Forest of Arden to be as transformative for audiences as it is for the characters in the play.
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‘Imagine No Worse of Them’: Hippolyta on the Ritual Threshold in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
(summary)
In the following essay, Clary discusses the Pyramus and Thisbe interlude in A Midsummer Night's Dream in terms of the ritual of wedding-night revelry. The critic argues that although traditionally the principal function of this rite is to allay male fears of domestication, here it is also designed to initiate Hippolyta into Athenian society.
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Shakespeare and Ritual: The Example of As You Like It
(summary)
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Criticism: Ritual And Ceremony In The History Plays
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‘I Am but Shadow of Myself’: Ceremony and Design in 1 Henry VI.
(summary)
In the following essay, Burckhardt proposes that the hyperbolic, ceremonial language of Henry VI, Part 1 perfectly matches the play's dramatic action, in which the characters are impelled to disaster by their adherence to a ritualistic mode of confrontation, defiance, and combativeness.
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Royal Procession in Henry IV.
(summary)
In the following essay, Fujita contrasts Hal's arrival in regal costume and procession in Act V, scene v of Henry IV, Part 2 with Falstaff's appearance in dirty and disheveled clothes, and contends that the fat knight's disregard of ceremony and his mockery of royalty, though amusing in Part 1, can no longer be tolerated by the new king.
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The Rite of Violence in 1 Henry IV.
(summary)
In the following essay, Cohen views the combat between Hal and Hotspur in Act III, scene ii of Henry IV, Part 1 as a ritual purification of the violence that has engulfed England.
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The Interlude of the Beggar and the King in Richard II.
(summary)
In the following essay, Black contends that Act IV, scenes ii-iii of Richard II validate rather than mock the stately rituals of the deposition scene that precedes them. The critic argues that during the grievous pageant of his uncoronation, Richard becomes a self-declared beggar, praying for the same dispensation from Henry IV that Aumerle asks of him in the subsequent scenes.
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‘Ciphers to This Great Accompt’: Civic Pageantry in the Second Tetralogy
(summary)
In the following essay, Palmer points out the subtlety of Shakespeare's depiction of pageantry and ceremony as political tools in Richard II, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V.
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Ceremony and Politics in Richard II.
(summary)
In the following essay, Harrier examines Richard's conduct in Act III, scene iii of Richard II. In the critic's opinion, the king's increasing inability to preserve the ritual show of monarchy is an outward manifestation of his loss of confidence in his entitlement to the throne.
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The Ritual Groundwork
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Liebler examines the way ritual actions in Richard II are honored, abruptly curtailed, subverted, or ignored. The critic focuses on the joust between Bolingbroke and Mowbray at the opening of the play, the formal deposition of Richard at Westminster, and the continuing degradation of the sacred bonds of kinship.
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‘I Am but Shadow of Myself’: Ceremony and Design in 1 Henry VI.
(summary)
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Criticism: Ritual And Ceremony In The Tragedies
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‘Maimèd Rites’: Shakespeare's Hamlet
(summary)
In the following essay, Cole compares Hamlet to Xerxes, the protagonist of Aeschylus's The Persians, arguing that because Hamlet has been denied the catharsis of traditional funeral rites, he becomes obsessed with replacing his father rather than forging his own, separate identity.
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Conjuring Caesar: Ceremony, History, and Authority in 1599
(summary)
In the following essay, Rose compares the political strife in Julius Caesar with the divisiveness that roiled the Protestant church in Elizabethan England. The critic contends that the late sixteenth-century Puritan campaign against church rituals and ceremonies is analogous to the anti-authoritarianism of Cassius, Casca, and the tribunes.
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Ritual and Identity: The Edgar-Edmund Combat in King Lear
(summary)
In the following essay, Kendall argues that the elaborate ceremony surrounding the trial by combat between Edgar and Edmund in Act V, scene iii of King Lear betrays the hollowness of the ritual and highlights the ineffectuality of all human constructs designed to establish legitimacy or affirm a natural order.
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The Crisis of Ritual in Titus Andronicus
(summary)
In the following essay, Mead contends that the ritual slaying of Alarbus in Titus Andronicus, intended as a means of appeasing the dead Andronici and forestalling further violence, instead initiates a cycle of retaliatory bloodletting.
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The Hobby-Horse Is Forgot: Tradition and Transition
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Liebler focuses on the violations of ceremony in King Lear and Macbeth.
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‘Maimèd Rites’: Shakespeare's Hamlet
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Saints Alive! Falstaff, Martin Marprelate, and the Staging of Puritanism
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's character Sir John Falstaff, most famously known for his appearance in 1 Henry IV, was initially based on Sir John Oldcastle, a historical figure and Lollard martyr. Oldcastle's life and death, chronicled by Protestant bishop John Bale, depicted him as a valiant warrior against Catholic tyranny. This representation was popularized during the Elizabethan era through works like Foxe's Acts and Monuments and Holinshed's Chronicles, where Oldcastle was viewed as either a Protestant hero or a heretic, depending on religious and political biases. Shakespeare's transformation of Oldcastle into the Rabelaisian Falstaff was controversial and reflected complex religious and political tensions of the time.
Falstaff's character was initially named "Oldcastle" in early performances, but due to pressure from the Lords Cobham and the Protestant audience, it was changed to "Falstaff." Despite this change, the association with Oldcastle persisted in public memory and private performances, signifying the contentious nature of his historical and symbolic significance. Recent editorial debates about reverting to Falstaff’s original name highlight ongoing discussions about Shakespeare's use of censorship and historical context in his works.
Critics argue whether Shakespeare merely blundered in this character choice or intentionally critiqued contemporary figures and religious factions. As noted in the anti-Marprelate tracts and the burlesque Marprelate controversy, Falstaff's character aligns with the Elizabethan depiction of puritans as grotesque figures in carnival settings. This portrayal was not an innovative deviation but instead resonated with an existing stereotype of puritans as absurd and carnivalesque. Thus, Falstaff personifies the grotesque puritan, a familiar figure to Shakespeare's audience, and reflects broader religious and political discourses within the era.
- I
- II
- III
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Introduction
(summary)
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Sexuality in Shakespeare
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's exploration of sexuality and sexual language remains a fertile subject of scholarly inquiry. His plays, often oscillating from comedic to somber tones, engage with human sexuality in a manner that has intrigued critics for centuries. While Shakespeare's bawdy language has historically faced censorship, contemporary scholarship seeks to reveal the cultural and historical contexts influencing his portrayal of gender and sexuality. Feminist and gender theories are instrumental in uncovering the misogynistic and patriarchal undercurrents as well as Renaissance sexual anxieties embedded in his language, as discussed by Colman and others.
An essential point of analysis is Shakespeare's use of sexual imagery, puns, and innuendo. This linguistic playfulness is particularly evident in his comedies, such as The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing, where themes of marriage and gender conflict are explored through intricate wordplay, as noted by Peter Cummings. However, beneath the humor lies a serious engagement with Elizabethan views on female sexuality and its perceived dangers, a theme further explored by Michael Hattaway and William C. Carroll. Additionally, the exclusive use of male actors for female roles on the Elizabethan stage prompts discussions on sexual identity and homoeroticism, as explored by Stephen Orgel.
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The Language Of Sexuality
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What Is Indecency?
(summary)
In the following essay, Colman examines the historical contexts of Shakespeare's bawdy language, comparing the mores of Elizabethan and modern times.
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Shakespeare's Bawdy Planet
(summary)
In the following essay, Cummings surveys Shakespeare's use of sexual imagery, wordplay, innuendo, and metaphor.
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What Is Indecency?
(summary)
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Sexual Identity
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Nobody's Perfect: Or Why Did the English Stage Take Boys for Women?
(summary)
In the following essay, Orgel explores the cultural assumptions behind male and female sexual identity in Shakespeare's plays.
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Nobody's Perfect: Or Why Did the English Stage Take Boys for Women?
(summary)
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Female Sexuality And Misogyny
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The Virgin Not: Language and Sexuality in Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following essay, Carroll discusses the question of female sexuality as a locus of mystification, dislocution, negation, and linguistic transgression in Shakespeare's dramas.
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Fleshing His Will in the Spoil of Her Honour: Desire, Misogyny, and the Perils of Chivalry
(summary)
In the following essay, Hattaway undertakes a general analysis of misogyny in Shakespeare's texts, describing four sites—anatomical, psycho-analytical, social, and ideological—in which misogyny occurs.
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The Virgin Not: Language and Sexuality in Shakespeare
(summary)
- Further Reading
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Introduction
(summary)
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Shakespeare and Clarissa: 'General Nature', Genre and Sexuality
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare, often regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in English literature, profoundly influenced the development of the dramatic arts. His works, characterized by an unparalleled command of the English language, explore timeless themes such as love, power, ambition, and betrayal. Shakespeare's plays, including Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello, delve into the complexities of human nature and societal constructs, often through dynamic characters and intricate plots. As noted in Shakespeare and Clarissa: 'General Nature', Genre and Sexuality, his exploration of genre and sexuality remains a focal point of scholarly discussion.
Shakespeare's contribution extends beyond narrative innovation; he was instrumental in evolving the English language, introducing phrases and words still in use today. His ability to blend poetic language with profound psychological insights into his characters makes his work a perennial subject of academic study. His influence is evident in various literary criticisms, such as those by Martin Scofield from the University of Kent, which examine Shakespeare's treatment of gender and genre, shedding light on his nuanced portrayals of sexuality.
- I. Universality and Difference
- Il Genre: Tragedy Versus Comedy
- III. The Uses of Quotation
- IV. Letters and Sexuality
- V. Rape, Writing and Morality
- VI. Conclusions
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Introduction
(summary)
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Shakespeare And Classical Civilization
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's engagement with classical civilization is a critical area of study that reveals the depth of his intellectual and artistic background. Contrary to the Romantic notion of Shakespeare as an untutored genius, modern scholarship, beginning with T. W. Baldwin's landmark study, has shown that Shakespeare possessed a formidable command of Latin literature, which permeates his works. This erudition is evident in the classical settings of one-third of his plays and his extensive use of mythological references and allusions to authors like Virgil, Ovid, and Seneca.
Shakespeare's Roman plays, such as Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra, highlight his fascination with Rome's historical and political legacy during the European Renaissance. Scholars like Robert Miola have noted that Shakespeare was attuned to the political shifts and enduring values of Roman civilization, such as constancy and honor. Meanwhile, his portrayals of the Greek world, particularly in Troilus and Cressida and Timon of Athens, have sparked debates on his influences and perspectives on Greek culture. Views range from direct influences of Greek tragedy to interpretations filtered through Latin sources. Critics like Charles and Michelle Martindale suggest that Shakespeare's handling of Greek themes might reflect a nuanced engagement with Homeric elements, possibly influenced by George Chapman’s translation of Homer’s Iliad.
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Overviews
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Shakespeare and the Ancient World
(summary)
In the following lecture, originally delivered at the University of Michigan in 1970, Arthos argues that Shakespearean drama represents the synthesis of classical source material and the medieval Christian imagination.
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The Ancient World in Shakespeare: Authenticity or Anachronism? A Retrospect
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Velz examines the ways in which previous scholars and critics have portrayed Shakespeare's conception of Greece and Rome.
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Shakespeare and the Ancient World
(summary)
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Rome
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Shakespeare's Roman World
(summary)
In the essay below, Muir analyzes Shakespeare's handling of Roman themes, maintaining that despite certain trivial anachronisms, the playwright's "knowledge of the Roman world and of Roman literature was considerable."
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A Roman Thought: Renaissance Attitudes to History Exemplified in Shakespeare and Jonson
(summary)
In the essay below, Hunter provides a detailed account of the Tudor conception of Roman history. The critic additionally shows how Shakespeare's portrayal of political events during the Republic and Empire is informed by values that differ from those of Ben Jonson in such plays as Sejanus and Catiline.
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The Road to Rome
(summary)
In the following essay, Miola explores the nature of Elizabethan classicism and advocates an organic approach to the problem of coherence in Shakespeare's Rome, arguing that the city maintains a distinct identity in Shakespeare's poetry and drama despite the variety of ways in which it is portrayed.
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An introduction to The Wide Arch: Roman Values in Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following essay, Wells provides an overview of the role of Roman values in Renaissance culture generally, and concludes with a discussion of Shakespeare's handling of these values.
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Shakespeare's Roman World
(summary)
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Vergil And Ovid
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Vergil in Shakespeare: From Allusion to Imitation
(summary)
In the following essay, Miola explores the ways in which Shakespeare used and adapted the poetry of Vergil throughout his career.
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Shakespeare and the Renaissance Ovid
(summary)
In the following essay, Bate examines the profound influence of Ovid on Renaissance culture and Shakespeare's works. The critic additionally provides an overview of the Elizabethan educational system, describing the emphasis placed on memorizing and imitating Latin literary models.
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Vergil in Shakespeare: From Allusion to Imitation
(summary)
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Greece
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'Greeks' and 'Merrygreeks': A Background to Timon of Athens and Troilus and Cressida
(summary)
In the essay below, Spencer shows how Renaissance attitudes towards ancient Greece, derived ultimately from unfavorable accounts in Latin sources, informed Shakespearean drama.
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Shakespeare's Greeks
(summary)
In the essay below, Leech argues that in such plays as Timon of Athens and Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare's choice of a Greek setting was bound up with his desire for experiment and for the taking of an oblique view of the world.
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Shakespeare's Troy
(summary)
In the following essay, the Martindales examine Shakespeare's picture of the Greek world by focusing on the playwright's treatment of the story of Troy in Troilus and Cressida.
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'Greeks' and 'Merrygreeks': A Background to Timon of Athens and Troilus and Cressida
(summary)
- Further Reading
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Introduction
(summary)
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Shakespeare and the End of History
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare, often hailed as the greatest playwright in the English language, has crafted works that explore profound themes of human experience and societal dynamics. His plays, ranging from tragedies like Hamlet and Macbeth to comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, delve into timeless questions of ambition, power, identity, and love. Shakespeare’s mastery of language and character development allows audiences to engage deeply with the psychological and moral complexities of his characters. His influence extends beyond literature into various fields of human thought and culture. Critics like Gordon McMullan of King's College, Cambridge, examine how Shakespeare's works resonate with contemporary issues, leading to discussions such as 'Shakespeare and the End of History' which highlight the enduring relevance of his exploration of human nature and societal structures. Through nuanced storytelling, Shakespeare continues to inspire debate and interpretation across generations, affirming his status as a central figure in literary history.
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
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Introduction
(summary)
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Shakespeare's Bawdy
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's use of bawdy—humorously indecent language—has become a focal point for modern literary criticism, notably since Eric Partridge's study in 1947. While some have historically dismissed bawdy elements as appealing to base instincts, contemporary scholars increasingly recognize its significance in character and plot development. Modern critics, including E. A. M. Colman, emphasize the need for a nuanced understanding of Shakespeare's bawdy to fully appreciate his works, cautioning against overemphasizing its indecency. Marion D. Perret argues that in The Taming of the Shrew, bawdy language reveals character depth and spiritual values, particularly in the portrayal of Kate and Bianca. In Romeo and Juliet, Mary Bly highlights Juliet's bawdy puns and their influence on early 1600s comedies, while James R. Andreas, Jr. argues against censorship of bawdy elements in education, noting their importance in balancing the play's violence. Richard Halpern provocatively compares Venus and Adonis to "soft-core pornography," designed to engender sexual tension. Furthermore, Joan Hutton Landis explores homosexual bawdy in The Merchant of Venice, emphasizing the complexity and enduring impact of Shakespeare's bawdy language, which once revealed, is hard to ignore.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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Introductory and Non-sexual Bawdy
(summary)
In the following excerpt, originally published in 1947, Partridge studies Shakespeare's outlook and attitude toward sex and bawdiness, and examines both the sexual and non-sexual elements of bawdy in Shakespeare's works.
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‘The Safety of a Pure Blush’: Shakespeare's Bawdy Clusters
(summary)
In the following essay, Ross studies the dual effect of certain word groups, or “bawdy clusters”—words that take on indecent meanings when they occur in clustered references.
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Of Sex and the Shrew
(summary)
In the following essay, Perret examines Shakespeare's use of bawdy in The Taming of the Shrew, and contends that the purpose of the bawdy is to comically introduce serious values.
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The Context of Erotica: Marston, Donne, Shakespeare, and Spenser
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Frantz studies the bawdy language of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and maintains that a reader's understanding of the play is enriched by a knowledge of Renaissance erotica.
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‘Her C's, Her U's, and Her T's: Why That?’: A New Reply for Sir Andrew Aguecheek
(summary)
In the following essay, Scragg argues that a passage from Act II, scene v of Twelfth Night—in which Malvolio reads the forged letter—can be read as both a bawdy joke and as a warning against pickpockets.
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Bawdy Puns and Lustful Virgins: The Legacy of Juliet's Desire in Comedies of the Early 1600s
(summary)
In the following essay, Bly examines Juliet's use of bawdy puns in Romeo and Juliet, and considers the influence of her character on the comic heroines of Henry Porter's The Two Angry Women of Abington and Thomas Dekker's Blurt, Master Constable.
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‘By two-headed Janus’: Double Discourse in The Merchant of Venice
(summary)
In the following essay, Hutton studies the homosexual bawdy in The Merchant of Venice.
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‘Pining Their Maws’: Female Readers and the Erotic Ontology of the Text in Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis
(summary)
In the following essay, Halpern likens Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis to “a piece of soft-core pornography,” and contends that the poem is meant to produce sexual frustration in its female readers.
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Explorations in Shakespeare's Language
(summary)
In the following essay, Kermode examines the ways in which various critics have interpreted Shakespeare's language, including his use of sexual innuendo and bawdy.
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Teaching Shakespeare's Bawdry: Orality, Literacy, and Censorship in Romeo and Juliet
(summary)
In the following essay, Andreas discusses the school censorship of the bawdy elements in Romeo and Juliet, and contends that students, in order to fully appreciate Shakespeare, need to be taught the whole text.
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Introductory and Non-sexual Bawdy
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Shakespeare's Clowns and Fools
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Introduction
(summary)
Shakespeare's clowns and fools are among the most fascinating figures in his plays, capturing the attention of critics and audiences alike. These characters can be categorized as either clowns, who evoke laughter through ignorance, or courtly fools or jesters, marked by wit and satire. The clowns, like Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, are rooted in classical antiquity and primarily serve to entertain. In contrast, the courtly fool, prevalent by Queen Elizabeth’s reign, could be either a natural fool, often loved but rarely featured in Shakespeare, or an artificial fool, skilled in wit, such as Touchstone in As You Like It and Feste in Twelfth Night, as discussed by Shyam M. Asnani.
The thematic roles of these characters have been significantly explored. Critics like Roger Ellis highlight how fools often present worldviews that challenge societal norms, while Roberta Mullini notes their potential to disrupt societal order and language conventions. Meanwhile, clowns like Trinculo in The Tempest provide comic relief, yet they can also possess disguised wisdom.
Critics have also examined the impact of actors such as Robert Armin, believed to have inspired the creation of many philosophical fool roles. Additionally, Walter Kaiser analyzes Falstaff’s role as a 'wise fool' in the Henriad, while William Willeford delves into the tragic dimensions of Hamlet as a fool figure. The blending of comedy and tragedy through fools in plays like Hamlet is further explored by Catherine I. Cox, illustrating the depth and versatility of Shakespeare's fool characters.
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Overviews
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The Fool in Shakespeare: A Study in Alienation
(summary)
In the following essay, Ellis discusses Shakespeare's fools as figures who represent worldviews fundamentally different from those of the majority of society.
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An Apology for Fools (—A Study in Shakespearean Fools)
(summary)
In the essay below, Asnani offers an overview of Shakespeare's fools, notably Touchstone, Feste, and Lear's Fool.
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The Fool as Entertainer and Satirist, On Stage and in the World
(summary)
In the essay that follows, McMullen examines the fool's role as a satirical voice in Shakespeare's plays.
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Playing the Fool: The Pragmatic Status of Shakespeare's Clowns
(summary)
In the following essay, Mullini investigates Shakespeare's use of fools to disrupt hierarchical order and the conventions of language.
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Shakespeare's Clowns and Fools
(summary)
Below, Skura surveys Shakespeare's use of clowns in his plays, and their popularity with both Elizabethan and modern audiences.
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The Fool in Shakespeare: A Study in Alienation
(summary)
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Fools In The Histories And Historical Fools
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Armin's Foolish Parts with Shakespeare's Company 1599-1607
(summary)
In the following essay, Felver describes the fool roles in the plays of Shakespeare's middle period (1599-1607) that were likely performed by the versatile comedic actor Robert Armin.
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Falstaff the Fool
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Kaiser analyzes Falstaff's position as the 'wise fool' of the Henriad.
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Shakespeare's Fools: The Shadow and the Substance of Drama
(summary)
In the essay below, Evans observes developments in Shakespeare's dramatic representation of the fool character as they coincide with the appearance of Robert Armin as a member of Shakespeare's acting company.
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Armin's Foolish Parts with Shakespeare's Company 1599-1607
(summary)
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Fools In The Comedies
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Foolery Shines Everywhere: The Fool's Function in the Romantic Comedies
(summary)
In the essay that follows, Hart probes Shakespeare's presentation of fools in his romantic comedies from A Midsummer Night's Dream to Twelfth Night.
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Finding a Part for Parolles
(summary)
In the following essay, Ellis marks Parolles' progress from knave to fool in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well.
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Foolery Shines Everywhere: The Fool's Function in the Romantic Comedies
(summary)
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Fools In The Tragedies
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The Tragic Dimension of Folly: Hamlet
(summary)
Below, Willeford views the character of Hamlet as a tragic fool.
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'Horn Pypes and Funeralls': Suggestions of Hope in Shakespeare's Tragedies
(summary)
In the following essay, Cox explores Shakespeare's blending of comedy and death, principally through the use of laughter and clowning, in his tragedies.
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The Tragic Dimension of Folly: Hamlet
(summary)
- Further Reading
-
Introduction
(summary)
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Shakespeare's Representation of History
-
Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's approach to dramatizing English history through his plays remains a significant subject of literary analysis, particularly in how he presents historical events and sources. His works, organized into two tetralogies, cover English history from 1398 to 1485. The first tetralogy consists of Henry VI, Parts One, Two, and Three and Richard III; the second tetralogy includes Richard II, Henry IV, Parts One and Two, and Henry V. These plays are informed by sources such as Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York and Raphael Holinshed's The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Graham Holderness suggests that Shakespeare's plays served as a new form of historiography, merging providentialist orthodoxy and humanist historiography, a view supported by Matthew H. Wikander, who sees them as moral narratives.
Don M. Ricks suggests that Shakespeare's historiography reflected the didactic nature of Tudor historiography, although he asserted a more nuanced view of providential order. Clifford Leech argues that Shakespeare's work transcends sixteenth-century historical attitudes, highlighting the complexities of civil rebellion and English identity beyond mere propaganda. Additionally, the structural relationship between the two parts of Henry IV is a point of scholarly debate. Paul Yachnin and Paola Pugliatti discuss how these plays should be perceived as evolving performance texts rather than static literary works, with Yachnin seeing the plays as critiques of Renaissance historiography and Pugliatti highlighting the instability in historical narrative.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Shakespeare And Historiography
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History for the Elizabethans
(summary)
In the essay below, Leech argues that while Shakespeare does honor sixteenth-century attitudes toward the value of history to some degree, the playwright also transcends—both in literary expertise and poetic insight—the chronicles he used as source material.
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The Shakespearean History Play
(summary)
In the essay below, Ricks examines the relationship between politics and history in Tudor—and in particular, Shakespearean—historiography, maintaining that Shakespeare's historiography was characteristic of his age in its didacticism.
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Introduction 2: History
(summary)
In the essay below, Holderness maintains that many of Shakespeare's plays, especially the English history plays, were intentional acts of historiography. In particular, Holderness analyzes the second tetralogy (Richard II through Henry V) and argues that the historiography offered in these plays was a new, emergent form with a bourgeois viewpoint.
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Shakespeare's Dramatic Historiography: I Henry IV to Henry VIII
(summary)
In the following essay, Wikander examines the nature of Shakespeare's historiography in the English history plays, demonstrating the way in which Shakespeare incorporated elements of the medieval, providential view of history and humanist historiography in his approach to English history.
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Truth and Art in History Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, Hunter studies the way in which Elizabethans viewed the treatment of history in history plays.
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History for the Elizabethans
(summary)
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Criticism: The History Plays And Structural Issues
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History, Theatricality, and the ‘Structural Problem’ in the Henry IV Plays
(summary)
In the essay that follows, Yachnin contends that what is perceived to be a structural problem in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (that is, the question of whether the plays should be approached as one ten-act play or two separate five-act plays) ceases to be an issue when the plays are understood to be performance texts, rather than literary texts. As such, the critic maintains, the two plays reveal Shakespeare's critique of Renaissance historiography and demonstrate the ‘open-ended’ character of historical change.
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Time, Space and the Instability of History in the Henry IV Sequence
(summary)
In the essay below, Pugliatti responds to several of Paul Yachnin's arguments, maintaining that Henry IV, Part Two strengthens and clarifies elements of Henry IV, Part One, rather than revising premises of the first play, as Yachnin suggests. Pugliatti also examines the concept of political, as well as historiographical, instability in the plays.
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History, Theatricality, and the ‘Structural Problem’ in the Henry IV Plays
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Shakespeare's Representation of Women
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Introduction
(summary)
Shakespeare's depiction of women is a rich area of scholarly exploration, particularly regarding how these characters are portrayed and interpreted on stage. Though women seldom take center stage in his plays—exceptions include Rosalind in As You Like It and Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra—his female characters are notable for their diversity and depth. Characters like the forthright Cordelia, the witty Beatrice and Kate, the astute Portia, and the ambitious Lady Macbeth illustrate a broad spectrum of traits. Critics often highlight the intelligence, vitality, and independence shared by many of Shakespeare's young women, as noted in As We Like It: How a Girl Can Be Smart and Still Popular. These qualities have led some scholars to view Shakespeare as progressive, breaking away from the simplistic female stereotypes of his predecessors, as explored in Demythologizing Shakespeare.
However, contrasting perspectives argue that even Shakespeare's most admirable women are not without flaws, reflecting the misogynistic tendencies of his time. For instance, as discussed in 'Slander's Venom'd Spear': The Tradition, accusations of promiscuity are common. Furthermore, women in power are often depicted as corruptible, highlighting societal anxieties about female authority, a theme which is critiqued in Domesticating the Dark Lady. Thus, while Shakespeare's portrayal of women is complex and multifaceted, it also reflects the enduring cultural biases of his era.
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Overviews
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Introduction: Their Infinite Variety
(summary)
In the following essay, Dash discusses the depth, individuality, and variety of Shakespeare's female characters, and the ways in which stage portrayals of these women have been ruled by gender stereotypes of different eras.
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Demythologizing Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following essay, Novy examines Shakespeare's presentation of a range of female character types from a feminist critical perspective.
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New Woman, New Man
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Kiberd comments on the masculine and feminine qualities portrayed by Shakespeare in characters of both sexes.
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Introduction: Their Infinite Variety
(summary)
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Types Of Shakespearean Women Characters
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Shakespeare's Ladies-in-Waiting
(summary)
In the following essay, Draper examines the dramatic functions fulfilled by ladies-in-waiting—high-born women attendants of noblewomen—in Shakespeare's plays.
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Women's Fantasy of Manhood: A Shakespearean Theme
(summary)
In the following essay, Harding discusses Shakespeare's presentation of females who usurp traditionally male roles.
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As We Like It: How a Girl Can Be Smart and Still Popular
(summary)
In the following essay, Park analyzes characteristics of Shakespeare's lively, intelligent, and self-confident young women characters, focusing on Beatrice, from Much Ado about Nothing, Portia, from The Merchant of Venice; and Rosalind, from As You Like It.
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Images of Women in Shakespeare's Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, Mowat examines the discrepancy between reader and audience perception of Shakespeare's women characters and the ways in which Shakespeare's male characters view those same women.
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'Slander's Venom'd Spear': The Tradition
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Sexton discusses Shakespeare's theme of the slandered woman in Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale.
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'Nay, Faith, Let Me Not Play a Woman, I Have a Beard Coming': Women in Shakespeare's Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, McLuskie maintains that Shakespeare exploited a shift in dramatic convention from the symbolic to the representational to portray women characters both emblematically—as idealized or stereotyped symbols—and mimetically, with as much realism and naturalism as was available to him within Elizabethan dramatic conventions.
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Shakespeare's Ladies-in-Waiting
(summary)
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Gender Issues
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Civilian Impotence, Civic Impudence
(summary)
In the excerpt below, Woodbridge contends that transvestite disguise in Shakespeare's plays tends to reinforce, rather than undermine, traditionally perceived differences between the sexes.
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Disrupting Sexual Difference: Meaning and Gender in the Comedies
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Belsey maintains that the spectacle of women dressing as men in Shakespeare's comedies generally has the effect of challenging commonly perceived distinctions between traditionally 'masculine' and 'feminine' characteristics.
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Historical Difference/Sexual Difference
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Rackin probes the role of gendered spaces and languages in Shakespeare's history plays.
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Domesticating the Dark Lady
(summary)
In the following essay, Brink investigates Shakespeare's portrayal of powerful women within patriarchal systems, using examples from selected sonnets, Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus.
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Civilian Impotence, Civic Impudence
(summary)
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Performance Issues
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Shakespeare's Celibate Stage
(summary)
In the following essay, Jamieson explores ways that having young male performers enact female roles affected Shakespeare's presentation of women characters.
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Playing the Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism and Shakespearean Performance
(summary)
In the following essay, Helms explores the possibilities of feminist reinterpretation to transform the Shakespearean text in performance.
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Shakespeare's Celibate Stage
(summary)
- Further Reading
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Introduction
(summary)
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Silence
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Introduction
(summary)
Silence in William Shakespeare’s plays is a powerful dramatic element that contributes significantly to characterization and thematic development. It may signify emotions beyond articulation, intimidation, or defiance, and its performance can imbue it with multiple meanings. As noted by Christina Luckyj, Shakespeare reflects the Renaissance's contradictory views on women's silence, portraying it as either independent or acquiescent. This ambiguity is central in comedies such as Measure for Measure, where Charles R. Lyons and Amy Lechter-Siegel interpret Isabella’s silence as submission to male authority. Similarly, Jonathan Bate highlights Hero's passivity in Much Ado about Nothing as the ultimate silencing.
In tragedies, silence often conveys fear or despair. Jill Levenson examines Cordelia's silence in King Lear as a manifestation of emotional strength and complexity, while Cynthia Marshall interprets Lavinia’s enforced muteness in Titus Andronicus as a brutal silencing of women. In tragedies and histories, male silence can be strategic, revealing internal conflict or exerting control, as discussed by Harvey Rovine and Michael Manheim.
Offstage events create dramatic silences too, which generate ambiguity and subjectivity. Marjorie Garber identifies "unscenes" in plays like King Lear where significant actions are revealed only through reports, fostering doubt and confusion. Mark Taylor discusses similar instances in Much Ado about Nothing, emphasizing the inherent "nothingness" in the play's core. These elements underscore Shakespeare’s mastery in using silence not just for dramatic effect, but to explore the limits and power of language itself.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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What the Silence Said: Still Points in King Lear
(summary)
In the following essay, originally delivered as a lecture in 1971, Levenson contends that silence in King Lear is integral to the play's structure, characterization, and thematic development.
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Silence in the Henry VI Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, Manheim stresses Henry VI's humanity and compassion, characterizing him as a man of integrity who is shocked into silence by the treachery and brutality of England's fractious noblemen.
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‘Fingers on Your Lips, I Pray’: On Silence in Hamlet.
(summary)
In the following essay, Jagendorf evaluates the motif of silence in Hamlet, arguing that it permeates the dramatic action and underscores the play's representation of truth as subjective and therefore open to different interpretations. In particular, he discusses the dumb show, the Ghost's initial speechlessness, and the ambiguity of silent gestures.
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Excellent Dumb Discourse: Silence and Grace in Shakespeare's Tempest
(summary)
In the following essay, Greene points out that although Prospero occasionally uses language to constrain or coerce, his special powers of healing are affected by silence, show, and music. Greene maintains that this accentuates Shakespeare's exploration of both the necessity and the limitations of speech.
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‘The Rest Is Silence’: Ineffability and the ‘Unscene’ in Shakespeare's Plays
(summary)
In the following essay, Garber surveys Shakespeare's onstage silences, his use of the indirect mode of representation—that is, characters' reports of events that occur offstage—and his adaptations of the conventional theme of inexpressibility. Garber asserts that Shakespeare understood that silence can be as effective as speech in communicating emotion.
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The Final Silences of Measure for Measure
(summary)
In the following essay, McGuire describes the way five late-twentieth-century productions of Measure for Measure depicted the muteness of Angelo, Barnardine, Claudio, Juliet, Mariana, and Isabella in the play's final scene. By means of nonverbal gestures, blocking, and shifting the sequence of lines, McGuire observes, the directors of these productions explored the many possible interpretations and implications of these characters' silences.
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Women and Silence
(summary)
In the following essay, Rovine contrasts the silence of women in Shakespeare's comedies and tragedies. In the comedies, he contends, it generally conveys acquiescence, while in the tragedies it may be construed as despair, resignation, or confusion. Rovine maintains that in both genres women's silence underscores their social, political, and familial obligations.
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Silence as Confrontation
(summary)
In the following essay, Rovine associates the silence of male characters in Shakespeare's comedies with their social alienation, and the silence of men in the tragedies and histories with a variety of motives—including antagonism, treachery, and a desire to influence or control the actions of others.
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Silent Women and Shrews: Eroticism and Convention in Epicoene and Measure for Measure
(summary)
In the following essay, Lyons maintains that Isabella's transformation from volubility to silence is a reverse image of the metamorphosis of Ben Jonson's Epicoene from submissiveness to stridency. He contends that both Measure for Measure and Epicoene demonstrate the eroticism of female silence and the power women possess when they are objects of male desire.
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Presence and Absence in Much Ado about Nothing
(summary)
In the following essay, Taylor focuses on the inscrutability of characters' reports of events in Much Ado about Nothing that are not represented on stage. Emphasizing the subjectivity of these reports, he focuses on Don Pedro's offstage conversation with Hero in Act II, scene i and the chamber-window scene in which Margaret is mistaken for Hero.
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Volumnia's Silence
(summary)
In the following essay, Luckyj asserts that Volumnia's speechlessness in Act V, scene v of Coriolanus represents not triumph but despair, for she understands that her son will die because he yielded to her supplication. The critic emphasizes the Roman matron's vulnerability as well as her vitality, describing various ways she has been represented in performance.
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‘I Can Interpret All Her Martyr'd Signs’: Titus Andronicus, Feminism, and the Limits of Interpretation
(summary)
In the following essay, Marshall claims that Titus Andronicus offers a profoundly misogynistic view of male-female relations through its presentation of women as estranged, alienated, and silenced.
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Isabella's Silence: The Consolidation of Power in Measure for Measure
(summary)
In the following essay, Lechter-Siegel traces Isabella's movement from articulate, rational speech to submissive silence, contending that the change in her discourse reflects the Duke's increasing control of social, political, and religious power in his realm. She compares the Duke's consolidation of power in Measure for Measure with the model of governance set forth by James I in his Basilikon Doron (1599).
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‘A Moving Rhetoricke’: Women's Silences and Renaissance Texts
(summary)
In the following essay, Luckyj relates Renaissance notions of female reticence as decorum or defiance to the silence of women in King Lear, Titus Andronicus, and Troilus and Cressida. She contends that sixteenth-century conduct book writers' ambivalent views of feminine silence are reflected in Shakespeare's plays.
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‘My Poor Fool Is Hanged’: Cordelia, the Fool, Silence and Irresolution in King Lear.
(summary)
In the following essay, Berge links the disappearance of the Fool and Cordelia's final silence to Lear's failed search for self-knowledge. In the critic's judgment, although the king comes to understand his daughter's initial reticence as a strength rather than a fault, he never comprehends his own complicity in the tragic events.
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Shakespeare's Silences
(summary)
In the following essay, Kermode evaluates the conjunction of speech and silence in Shakespeare's plays, with special reference to the way in which speechlessness can be a form of eloquence.
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Dying to Live in Much Ado about Nothing.
(summary)
In the following essay, Bate focuses on Hero's passivity and her provisional dispatch to death—the ultimate silencing. Noting how frequently other characters speak of her or allude to her—thus demonstrating her centrality in the play—he compares Hero to sacrificial women in classical literature who die in order that their husbands may be transformed.
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What the Silence Said: Still Points in King Lear
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Succession
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Introduction
(summary)
The theme of succession plays a crucial role in many of William Shakespeare's works, particularly in his history plays like Richard II, Henry IV, and King John, as well as tragedies such as Macbeth and Hamlet. This focus is partly due to the historical context of Queen Elizabeth's reign, marked by concerns regarding her lack of an heir and questions about her legitimacy. Shakespeare’s exploration of these themes is critically important, as it reflects the political anxieties of his time, particularly during the transition of power from Elizabeth to King James.
In King John, Shakespeare examines what constitutes a rightful claim to the throne, as analyzed by critics like William H. Matchett and Robert Lane. They discuss how the play reflects doubts about legitimacy similar to those during Elizabeth's reign, highlighting the people's role in succession. Phyllis Rackin compares different approaches to historical succession in Shakespeare's works, identifying a conflict between providential and Machiavellian theories as a driving force in these plays. Likewise, William C. Carroll finds that in Richard III, Shakespeare presents a skeptical view of providential succession.
The tragedies Macbeth and Hamlet further explore these themes in the context of James I's reign. Sarah Wintle and René Weis note how Macbeth emphasizes children and heirs, reflecting James's concerns with legitimacy. Jonathan Baldo highlights parallels between James's rule and Macbeth's themes, focusing on aloofness and lineal succession. In Hamlet, Stuart M. Kurland observes echoes of the political tensions surrounding James's accession and the anxieties of Elizabethan England.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Succession In The History Plays
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Richard's Divided Heritage in King John
(summary)
In the following essay, Matchett maintains that the plot of King John focuses on the issue of the “right” to the throne, and studies the claims to the throne of Arthur, John, and the Bastard. The critic asserts that in King John the mark of a true king is decided not by power or prestige, but on the basis of what is best for England.
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Ideological Conflict, Alternative Plots, and the Problem of Historical Causation
(summary)
In the following essay, Rackin identifies a conflict between two Renaissance theories of history, providentialism and Machiavellianism, as alternate explanations of historical causation. This conflict, maintains Rackin, can be found in Shakespeare's history plays, and it is the source of their theatrical energy and the inspiration for the audience's contemplation of the problems related to historical interpretation. Rackin goes on to investigate how this ideological conflict is portrayed in different ways in the history plays.
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'The Form of Law': Ritual and Succession in Richard III
(summary)
In the following essay, Carroll states that the way in which Richard III explores the failure of ritual reflects the political concerns of the 1590s related to the succession issue. Carroll concludes that the play demonstrates Shakespeare's skeptical attitude toward the 'logic of succession.'
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‘The Sequence of Posterity’: Shakespeare's King John and the Succession Controversy
(summary)
In the following essay, Lane reflects on the ways in which King John addresses the succession crisis of the 1590s, at the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Lane explains that the play explores the doubts regarding legitimacy and succession that plagued the reigns of both King John and Queen Elizabeth.
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Richard's Divided Heritage in King John
(summary)
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Criticism: Succession In The Tragedies: Hamlet
And Macbeth
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Macbeth and the Barren Sceptre
(summary)
In the following essay, Wintle and Weis examine the relationship between James I's legitimacy issues and Macbeth's concern with succession and legitimacy as revealed through the play's emphasis on children and babies.
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Hamlet and the Scottish Succession
(summary)
In the essay below, Kurland argues that Hamlet portrays the controversy surrounding James's succession to Queen Elizabeth's throne. The political world of Hamlet, explains Kurland, is informed by England's uncertainty generated by James's threats to secure the English throne through military action.
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The Politics of Aloofness in Macbeth
(summary)
In the following essay, Baldo contrasts the styles of rule of Queen Elizabeth and King James and studies the way in which James's aloofness is reflected in Macbeth. Baldo explains that whereas Shakespeare's Elizabethan plays reflect Elizabeth's theatricality and interrupted succession, Macbeth is a reflection of James's aloof style of rule and of his emphasis on lineal succession.
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Macbeth and the Barren Sceptre
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Time
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's exploration of time as a thematic and structural device in his works is a subject of extensive scholarly attention. Critics examine time in Shakespeare's oeuvre from various angles, considering it as a force that can be both destructive and restorative, a narrative medium, and a character-defining element. In his early works, such as the sonnets and comedies, Shakespeare's treatment of time ranges from the personal and emotional to the more philosophical and abstract, as Toliver and Quinones have observed.
Time is intricately linked to themes of love and mortality in Shakespeare's sonnets, as analyzed by Kaula, Turner, and Montgomery, who highlight the poet's depiction of time as both a destructive force and a motivation for living in the present. In plays like As You Like It, time is depicted in contrast between the corrupt court and the timeless Forest of Arden, suggesting a shift from objective to subjective perceptions of time, as discussed by Halio and Wilson.
Shakespeare’s late romances, including The Tempest, present time as a central structural element. In The Tempest, Robinson and McGovern contend that time challenges Prospero, depicting it as both an opportunity and a limitation for human action. Sypher's interpretation of the historical plays stresses the insignificance of political achievements against the vast backdrop of time, while Foster highlights the catastrophic consequences in Macbeth when natural time is disrupted.
Shakespeare's tragedies also engage with time's thematic layers. In Othello, as noted by Buchman, characters’ differing views of time affect their actions and vulnerabilities. Similarly, Antony and Cleopatra explores varied temporal perspectives, portraying characters' struggles with time's pressures and the interplay between historical and personal time, as analyzed by Kaula. These diverse explorations affirm Shakespeare's enduring engagement with the theme of time across his corpus, illustrating its multifaceted role in human experience.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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Shakespeare and the Abyss of Time
(summary)
In the following essay, Toliver follows Shakespeare's increasingly ambiguous and complex treatment of the theme of time from the sonnets and early comedies to the late romances. He calls particular attention to the dramatist's exploration of the effectiveness and limitations of different strategies of resisting time.
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Views of Time in Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following essay, Quinones identifies three principal concepts of time in Shakespeare's works: augmentative time, whose potentially destructive power may be averted; contracted time, whose corrosive effects are inevitably tragic; and extended time, which works in league with nature to bring about auspicious resolutions.
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Dramatic Time versus Clock Time in Shakespeare
(summary)
In the following essay, Smith directs attention to the compression and acceleration of dramatic time in several of Shakespeare's plays, discussing in particular the three different time schemes in Act IV, scene iii of Richard III.
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Hats, Clocks and Doublets: Some Shakespearean Anachronisms
(summary)
In the following essay, Barish examines anachronisms in Shakespeare’s plays, particularly in Julius Caesar and Cymbeline, and argues that most of Shakespeare's anachronisms are unobtrusive, and that Shakespeare's original audiences were less likely than modern ones to notice them.
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Shakespeare and the Abyss of Time
(summary)
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Criticism: Themes
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‘No Clock in the Forest’: Time in As You Like It.
(summary)
In the following essay, Halio evaluates the juxtaposition of time-consciousness in the world of court and city versus the timelessness in the Forest of Arden in As You Like It.
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‘In War with Time’: Temporal Perspectives in Shakespeare's Sonnets
(summary)
In the following essay, Kaula discerns two different time perspectives in sonnets 1-126, and analyzes the sonnets' syntax, rhetoric, and imagery in order to explain the disparate strategies these poems use to defy the tyranny of time.
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Time and The Tempest
(summary)
In the essay below, Robinson maintains that Shakespeare shows all the characters, but most especially Prospero, struggling against the urgent pressure of time to carry out their schemes within the brief duration of the present moment.
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The Time Sense of Antony and Cleopatra
(summary)
In the following essay, Kaula compares the various senses of time held by the protagonists of Antony and Cleopatra—Caesar is focused on the future and views time as an instrument that progresses linearly, Antony clings to the past and continually strains against the pressures of time, and Cleopatra regards time as a pliant, continuous present.
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Time the ‘Destroyer’ in the Sonnets
(summary)
In the following essay, Turner examines the associated themes of love and time in Shakespeare's sonnets. He argues that even though these verses depict time as corrupting all material or external things, especially beauty, they also represent true love as a transcendent, spiritual relationship to which time is irrelevant.
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The Way to Arden: Attitudes toward Time in As You Like It.
(summary)
In the following essay, Wilson identifies two concepts of time in As You Like It: one that views time as an objective process of measuring change and another that perceives time as relative and subjective. The critic finds that objective time is associated with the world of commerce and exchange, while the subjective sense of time is associated with the Forest of Arden.
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Time and the Trojans
(summary)
In the following essay, Bayley links the absence of value and meaning in Troilus and Cressida to the omission in the play of any sense of past or future in the lives of the characters.
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Disintegration of Time in Macbeth's Soliloquy: ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.’
(summary)
In the following essay, Breuer analyzes Macbeth's ‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” monologue (Act V, scene v) with reference to the twentieth-century experience of despair and isolation. He proposes that the collapse of time as a symbol of stability and the ensuing disorientation expressed in this soliloquy are paralleled in the works of Samuel Beckett, and that they also reflect Macbeth's attempt to mediate medieval and modern notions of man and his place in the universe.
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Political Time: The Vanity of History
(summary)
In the following essay, Sypher reads the second tetralogy in terms of the notion that history is a spurious charade that fades into insignificance when viewed against the measureless backdrop of time.
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‘Tempus’ in The Tempest.
(summary)
In the following essay, McGovern suggests that the title of The Tempest evokes not only the sense of a violent storm and emotional turmoil but also the sense of time or season. In the critic's judgment, the play deals significantly with the nature of time.
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Macbeth's War on Time
(summary)
In the following essay, Foster contends that Macbeth is a slave of time, a man who questions whether his fate is predetermined yet whose boundless will to power leads him to seize the future on his own terms and create himself king. However, the critic proposes, Macbeth's failure to transcend the inexorable progress of time, his most pernicious enemy, ultimately leads him to a nihilistic conviction that his life—indeed all life—is meaningless.
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Orson Welles's Othello: A Study of Time in Shakespeare's Tragedy
(summary)
In the following essay, Buchman contrasts Iago's view of time as changeable with Othello's perception of time as an eternal, orderly continuum, and remarks that the Moor's underlying fear of time's power to destroy love and honor makes him particularly vulnerable to Iago's treachery. Buchman also demonstrates how Orson Welles, in his film adaptation of Othello, used various cinematic techniques to underscore the significance of time in the play.
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The Dialogic Imagination: The European Discovery of Time and Shakespeare's Mature Comedies
(summary)
In the following essay, Westerweel employs Mikhail Bakhtin's theoretical model of the chronotope (literally “time-space”) to analyze temporal and spatial concepts in Twelfth Night and, to a lesser degree, in As You Like It. Westerweel identifies a variety of time-space relationships in these two comedies that help define mood and genre, but his primary emphasis is on the distinctive chronotopes of each of the characters in these plays.
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The Present Tense: Shakespeare's Sonnets and the Menaces of Time
(summary)
In the following essay, Montgomery focuses on the depth and emotionalism of Shakespeare's conception of the present in the sonnets. In most of the sonnets to the young man, the critic contends, only the present is valued, though it is unstable and variable; by contrast, the imminent future promises only death, deprivation, and destruction.
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‘No Clock in the Forest’: Time in As You Like It.
(summary)
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Introduction
(summary)
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Violence in Shakespeare's Works
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Introduction
(summary)
William Shakespeare's exploration of violence in his plays is multifaceted, encompassing warfare, murder, sexual violence, and more, each serving distinct narrative and thematic purposes. Critical discourse around Shakespeare's depiction of violence often involves contrasting perspectives. Some scholars analyze how his portrayals reflect Elizabethan attitudes, while others focus on the modern reception of these portrayals. Jonas Barish identifies various types of violence in Shakespeare's oeuvre, noting a shift from gratuitous violence towards linking such acts with disorder and tyranny, except in plays like Titus Andronicus, which indulges in extreme violence and brutality.
The treatment of women in Shakespeare's work is another subject of significant analysis. Sara Munson Deats critiques Othello for legitimizing violence and perpetuating negative stereotypes about women, contributing to patterns of domestic abuse. Similarly, Emily Detmer argues that The Taming of the Shrew reflects societal acceptance of dominating behavior as a form of violence, despite its lack of physical aggression.
Political implications of violence are also critical to Shakespearean studies. In Henry V, Derek Cohen illustrates how violence is wielded strategically by the monarch to achieve political ends, suggesting that such acts serve the state's order and success. Meanwhile, Leonard Tennenhouse discusses the relationship between the portrayal of violence against aristocratic women and political power in Elizabethan England, reflecting societal struggles with female sovereignty. While Shakespeare's intentions remain speculative, the role of violence in his works continues to provoke debate, drawing connections between historical context and contemporary interpretations.
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Overview
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Shakespearean Violence: A Preliminary Survey
(summary)
In the following essay, Barish examines the theme of violence as it appears in Shakespeare's plays, and suggests that throughout his career Shakespeare gradually lost interest in gratuitous violence and increasingly connected violence with disorder and tyranny.
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Shakespearean Violence: A Preliminary Survey
(summary)
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The Politics Of Violence
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Violence Done to Women on the Renaissance Stage
(summary)
In the following essay, Tennenhouse explores the political implications behind the portrayal of violence perpetrated against the aristocratic female body in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.
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Monopolizing Violence: Henry V
(summary)
In the following essay, Cohen studies the use of violence in Henry V, arguing that in this play, violence is used politically by a monarch "in the service of order and success."
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Violence Done to Women on the Renaissance Stage
(summary)
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Domestic Violence
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From Pedestal to Ditch: Violence Against Women in Shakespeare's Othello
(summary)
In the following essay, Deats argues that the play Othello legitimizes violence and the 'negative stereotyping of women,' both of which 'underlie the phenomenon of wife battering.'
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Finding What Has Been 'Lost': Representations of Infanticide and The Winter's Tale
(summary)
In the following essay, Dolan examines early modern legal discourses and literary representations regarding infanticide, and asserts that despite its connection to other literary works in which child disposal by fathers is euphemized, The Winter's Tale is seldom acknowledged as such a story due to 'the process of canon-formation.'
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Civilizing Subordination: Domestic Violence and The Taming of the Shrew
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In the following essay, Detmer analyzes The Taming of the Shrew within the context of early modern reforms against wife-beating, and claims that Petruchio's manner of 'taming' Kate was probably seen by early modern audiences as an ingenious way to comply with the new reforms. Detmer goes on to challenge twentieth-century critics who fail to recognize or address the 'violence of domination,' and who praise Petruchio's 'nonviolent coercive behavior as better' [than wife-beating], even though it is no less oppressive.
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From Pedestal to Ditch: Violence Against Women in Shakespeare's Othello
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- Further Reading
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Introduction
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War in Shakespeare's Plays
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Introduction
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War is a significant theme in William Shakespeare's plays, encompassing legal, ethical, and religious dimensions as well as its socio-political implications. Shakespeare critiques war as a political tool to deflect from domestic issues, as seen in Henry IV where foreign conflict serves to unify a nation. Critics like Theodor Meron argue that Shakespeare exposes the dubious justifications for war, often rooted in honor rather than legitimate causes. His historical plays, particularly those centered on the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of the Roses, highlight the transition from chivalric to modern warfare, reflecting contemporary debates on territorial expansion.
Henry V emerges as a crucial examination of war ethics and legitimacy. While Janet M. Spencer highlights the moral ambiguity and religious absolution surrounding Henry's campaigns, John Mark Mattox defends the war's just nature according to Western legal traditions. Elizabeth Marsland and others critique film adaptations for their nationalistic portrayals of Henry.
The Henry VI trilogy, according to Gregory M. Colón Semenza, uses sport as a metaphor for war, emphasizing personal ambition over collective good. In Richard III and King John, figures like R. Chris Hassel Jr. and Laurence Lerner explore the rhetorical power of leaders and the resolution of conflicts sans battle. In Othello and Hamlet, Susan Snyder finds domestic threats more significant than foreign ones.
In his comedies, Shakespeare often treats war as frivolous, a means for young men to gain honor, as shown in All's Well That Ends Well and The Two Noble Kinsmen. These works highlight the unresolved tensions between love and war, as discussed by R. B. Parker and Jo Eldridge Carney. In Troilus and Cressida, Lorraine Helms portrays the futility and destructiveness of war, marking a shift in Shakespeare's perspective on militarism, as noted by critics like Steven Marx.
- Further Reading
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Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
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War and Sex in All's Well That Ends Well
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In the following essay, Parker addresses the tension between ideals of love and war in All's Well That Ends Well. The critic suggests that the principal function of the war in the play is to provide an outlet for Bertram and the other French courtiers to express their aggression, achieve some measure of fame, and—in the case of Bertram—escape responsibilities.
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Military Oratory in Richard III.
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In the following essay, Hassel compares the rhetorical power and effectiveness of Richard's and Richmond's addresses to their forces before the crucial battle at Bosworth Field in Richard III. Citing sixteenth-century military manuals, the critic evaluates the two leaders' abilities to establish the justice of their cause and inspire their troops.
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‘Still Wars and Lechery’: Shakespeare and the Last Trojan Woman
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In the following essay, Helms analyzes Shakespeare's treatment of male and female notions of war and honor in Troilus and Cressida.
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War, Civil War, and Bruderkrieg in Shakespeare
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In the following essay, Barish discusses the portrayal of war in Shakespeare's histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances, concluding that the dramatist consistently viewed the pursuit of both foreign and domestic wars as a lamentable but natural human activity that almost inevitably ends with a Pyrrhic victory.
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The Ambiguities of Love and War in The Two Noble Kinsmen
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In the following essay, Carney comments on the tensions between love and war and between heterosexual desire and single-sex friendship in The Two Noble Kinsmen, suggesting that these antipathies are never resolved.
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Agincourt: Prisoners of War, Reprisals, and Necessity
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In the following essay, Meron considers Shakespeare's portrayal of Henry V's order to kill the French prisoners (in Act IV, scene vii) in light of medieval rules and customs of war. The critic concludes that Shakespeare depicted the order as both legal and justified.
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‘Women and Horses and Power and War’: Worship of Mars from 1 Henry IV to Coriolanus.
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In the following essay, Willems evaluates Hotspur and Coriolanus as exemplars of the cult of military heroism. The critic compares Henry IV, Part 1 and Coriolanus in terms of their depictions of heroic and antiheroic value systems, differences between professional and common soldiers, disparities between warriors and politicians, and conflicts between masculine and feminine virtues.
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Updating Agincourt: The Battle Scenes in Two Film Versions of Henry V
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In the following essay, the published version of a lecture delivered at a conference in Salzburg, Austria, in October 1995, Marsland compares Laurence Olivier's and Kenneth Branagh's representations of the Battle of Agincourt in their cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare's Henry V. Although the critic calls attention to the difference between Olivier's romantic view of war and Branagh's more realistic one, she contends that both directors glossed over the negative attributes of Shakespeare's Henry.
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Princes, Pirates, and Pigs: Criminalizing Wars of Conquest in Henry V.
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In the following essay, Spencer assesses the justice of Henry's invasion of France and the legitimacy of royal power in Henry V, concluding that the play casts a deeply ironic shadow on the king's reliance on religious authority to validate his conquest and absolve him from responsibility for the deaths and violence that ensue. The critic is particularly interested in the way that Shakespeare's many allusions to the legends associated with Alexander the Great, especially his encounter with the pirate Diomedes, enhance the ambiguous presentation of the morality of Henry's actions.
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‘The Norwegians Are Coming!’: Shakespearean Misleadings
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In the following essay, Snyder remarks on a similar absence of a crucial battle scene in both Othello and Hamlet, noting that Shakespeare did not dramatize the Turkish attack against Cyprus in Othello and represented Fortinbras's invasion of Denmark in Hamlet as a relatively bloodless one. Both tragedies, the critic suggests, depict the enemy within as a greater threat than the foreign antagonist.
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War and Peace
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In the following essay, Meron compares Shakespeare's treatment of war to medieval and Renaissance legal, religious, and chivalric doctrines of “just war.” Focusing on the English histories and Troilus and Cressida, the critic contends that characters in these plays articulate a message that is essentially pacifist.
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Henry V: Shakespeare's Just Warrior
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In the following essay, Mattox evaluates Shakespeare's portrait of Henry V in terms of well-established tenets of “just war” theory, arguing that the king has the right to wage war against France and that his conduct of that war meets traditional legal and ethical standards. The critic also maintains that Shakespeare affirmed Henry's claim that he has divine sanction to pursue war.
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The Hundred Years' War and National Identity
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In the following essay, Caldwell analyzes Henry VI, Part 2 and Henry V in the context of French and English historians' and artists' representations of the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453).
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King John, König Johann: War and Peace
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In the following essay, Lerner compares Shakespeare's King John with Friedrich Dürrenmatt's König Johann (1968), an adaptation of Shakespeare's work with marked changes in tone and characterization. The critic considers such issues as the more overt cynicism of Dürrenmatt's play with respect to political motivations for the pursuit of war and Shakespeare's subtle treatment of whether to use military force or diplomacy to settle the conflict between France and England.
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Sport, War, and Contest in Shakespeare's Henry VI
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In the following essay, Colón Semenza suggests that the decay of chivalric ideals, radical changes in the nature of warfare, and the clash of personal rivalries chronicled in the Henry VI trilogy are enhanced by Shakespeare's use throughout these plays of sport as a metaphor for war. The critic points out that allusions to warfare as a kind of competitive sport increase as Henry's nobles discard traditional concern with political principles and the common good in favor of pursuing their own ambitions.
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War and Sex in All's Well That Ends Well
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Introduction
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Would Not the Beggar Then Forget Himself?: Christopher Sly and Autolycus
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Introduction
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William Shakespeare, renowned for his deep exploration of human nature and societal norms, often incorporates the figures of peddlers and tinkers into his works, portraying them through various lenses. Historically, these characters were seen as vagrants, marginalized by laws that equated their itinerant lifestyles with criminality. Despite having a trade, peddlers and tinkers were often associated with deception and disorder, viewed as "wandering stars" and symbols of economic and social transgression, as noted in contemporary criticism from the likes of Gilbert Walker and Robert Greene.
In contrast to these negative perceptions, Shakespeare's portrayal of characters such as Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew and Autolycus in The Winter's Tale offers a more nuanced perspective. His depiction of these characters diverges from the stereotypical rogue, instead presenting them with warmth and complexity. For instance, Autolycus is a "snapper-up of unconsidered trifles," embodying a charm that contrasts sharply with the more vicious portrayals found in the works of contemporaries like Thomas Dekker or Ben Jonson.
Shakespeare seems to challenge the residual feudal values that criminalize the autonomy and entrepreneurial spirit of these characters. His plays suggest a more sympathetic view, recognizing the economic self-sufficiency of peddlers and tinkers as reflective of broader societal shifts, despite their reputation for petty crime and deceit. This portrayal indicates Shakespeare's keen understanding of the socioeconomic changes of his time, as he deftly navigates the tension between emerging capitalist ideals and traditional societal hierarchies.
- The Taming of a Tinker
- Autolycus: A "Gentleman Born"
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Introduction
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