William Shakespeare Criticism

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
Shakespeare's Historicism: Visions and Revisions
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
Appearance vs. Reality
- Introduction
- Overviews
  - Shakespeare and the Use of Disguise in Elizabethan Drama
  - Sexual Disguise in As You Like It and Twelfth Night
- Seeing / (Dis)Believing
  - Shakespeare and the Ocular Proof
  - The Figure of Woman
- Theatrical Deception
  - Personating Persons: Rethinking Shakespearean Disguises
  - 'Who Is't Can Read a Woman?': Rhetoric and Gender in Venus and Adonis, Measure for Measure, and All's Well That Ends Well
- Further Reading
Beginnings and Endings
- Introduction
- The Opening of All's Well That Ends Well: A Performance Approach
- The Beginnings of Pericles, Henry VIII, and Two Noble Kinsmen
- Tragic Death and Dull Survival
- Hamlet: The Duel Within
- That's she that was myself: Not-so-famous Last Words and Some Ends of Othello
- ‘We were born to die’: Romeo and Juliet
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Beginnings: Overviews
- Criticism: Endings: Overviews
  - ‘You that way; we this way’: Shakespeare's Endings
  - Shakespeare Closing
- Criticism: Endings: Comedies
- Criticism: Endings: King Lear
Compounding Errors
- Introduction
- I
- II
- III
- IV
Death
- Introduction
- I Know When One Is Dead, and When One Lives
- Dualism and the Hope of Reunion in The Winter's Tale
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Comedies
  - Wild Laughter in the Throat of Death
  - Measure for Measure and the Art of Not Dying
- Criticism: Histories
- Criticism: Tragedies
Deception in Shakespeare's Plays
- Introduction
- The Language Of Deception
- Male Fear Of Deception
  - Male Bonding and the Myth of Women's Deception in Shakespeare's Plays
- Self-Deception
- Shakespeare's Deception Of His Audience
  - Supersubtle Shakespeare: Othello as a Rhetorical Allegory
  - Misconstruction in I Henry IV
- Further Reading
Desire
- Introduction
- Unfulfilled Desire
- Obsessive Desire: Jealousy And Lust
  - The Action of Lust
  - 'The Catastrophe is a Nuptial': The Space of Masculine Desire in Othello, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale
- Desire As Metaphor
  - Mercantilism and Desire in The Comedy of Errors
- Further Reading
Dreams in Shakespeare
- Introduction
- Overviews: Dreams And Psychoanalysis
- Dreams And Imagination
  - A Dagger of the Mind: Dream and 'Conscience' in the Tragedies
  - 'Begot of Nothing?': Dreams and Imagination in Romeo and Juliet
- Dreams And Violence: Macbeth
  - Macbeth: Drama and Dream
  - Macbeth'. A Dream of Love
- Posthumus's Dream: Cymbeline
  - Dreams as History: The Strange Unity of Cymbeline
  - Self and Self-validation in a Stage Character: A Shakespearean Use of Dream
- Further Reading
Family
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
- Criticism: Shakespeare's Tragic Families
- Criticism: The Family In Shakespearean History And Romance
Fate and Fortune
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
  - Fortune and Occasion in Shakespeare: Richard II, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet
  - ‘Rota Fortunae’ and the Symbolism of Evil in Shakespearean Tragedy
- Criticism: Fortune In The Comedies
- Criticism: Fortune In The Tragedies
- Criticism: Fortune In The Roman Plays
Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare
- Introduction
- Overviews
- Comedies And Romances
- Lear And Cordelia
- Role Of Marriage
  - The King and the Physician's Daughter: All's Well That Ends Well and the Late Romances
  - The Father and the Bride in Shakespeare
- Further Reading
Fearful Simile: Stealing the Breech in Shakespeare's Chronicle Plays
- Introduction
- To Be
- To Have
- To Seem
Feminist Criticism
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
- Criticism: Trends In Feminist Criticism Of Shakespeare's Characters
- Criticism: Trends In Feminist Criticism Of Shakespeare's Plays
  - The Patriarchal Bard: Feminist Criticism and Shakespeare: King Lear and Measure for Measure
  - Feminist Thematics and Shakespearean Tragedy
Friendship
- Introduction
- Male Bonding in Shakespeare's Comedies
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Friendship In The Comedies
- Criticism: Friendship In The Tragedies
Gender Identity
- Introduction
- Overviews: Gender In Shakespeare's Plays
  - The Women's Part: Female Sexuality as Power in Shakespeare's Plays
  - Shakespeare's Imagery of Gender and Gender Crossing
- Feminine Identity
  - The Comic Heroine and the Avoidance of Choice
  - Playing the Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism and Shakespearean Performance
- Masculine Identity
  - The Milking Babe and the Bloody Man in Coriolanus and Macbeth
- Androgyny: Crossdressing And Disguise
- Gender And Genre
- Further Reading
Homosexuality
- Introduction
- William Shakespeare
- Hal's Desire, Shakespeare's Idaho
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Comedies
Iconography
- Introduction
- Iconography and Some Problems of Terminology in the Study of the Drama and Theater of the Renaissance
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Iconography In The History Plays
- Criticism: Iconography In The Tragedies
- Criticism: Iconography In The Romances
Incest
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
  - Shakespeare
  - The Triangle in William Shakespeare
- Criticism: The Motif Of Incest In The Late Romances
- Criticism: Incest And Tragedy
  - Aspects of the Incest Problem in Hamlet.
  - King Lear, King Leir, and Incest Wishes
Jealousy
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
  - Patriarchy and Jealousy in Othello and The Winter's Tale
  - Horns of Dilemma: Jealousy, Gender, and Spectatorship in English Renaissance Drama
- Criticism: Jealousy In Othello
- Criticism: The Winter's Tale: The Jealousy Of Leontes
Kingship
- Introduction
- The Legitimacy Of Rule And The Ideal King
- Monarchy And Ceremony
  - Thou Idol Ceremony': Elizabeth I, The Henriad, and the Rites of the English Monarchy
  - Shakespeare: Liberty and Idol Ceremony
- Abdication And Absolutism
  - Kingship
- Further Reading
Law and Justice
- Introduction
- Overview
  - Shakespeare and the Legal Process: Four Essays
- Law In Comedy And Romance: Trials, Marriage, And Merciful Justice
- Law In The Histories: Property And Succession
  - Ricardian Law Reports and Richard II
- King Lear: Divine Judgment And Natural Law
  - Earthly Doom and Heavenly Thunder: Judgement in King Lear
  - Shakespeare's The History of King Lear
- Further Reading
Losing the Map: Topographical Understanding in the Henriad
- Introduction
- Hotspur
- Prince Hal
- Henry V
- Henry IV
- The Border of History
Love and Romance
- Introduction
- Romantic Comedy
  - Shakespeare's Mature Romantic Comedies
  - Love and Society in Shakespearean Comedy: A Study of Dramatic Form and Content
- Love Tragedy
  - Human Affiliation and the Wedge of Gender
- Courtship And Marriage
- Further Reading
Madness
- Introduction
- Overviews
- Relation To Elizabethan Culture
  - Shakespeare's Psychiatry—And After
  - The Artist as Scientist
- The Language Of Madness
  - The Language of Madness in the Renaissance
  - The Language of Madwomen in Shakespeare and His Fellow Dramatists
- Gender And Madness
  - Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism
- Madness And Politics
  - The Politics of Madness: Junius Brutus in Machiavelli and Shakespeare
  - 'Suche Strange Desygns': Madness, Subjectivity, and Treason in Hamlet and Elizabethan Culture
- Further Reading
Magic and the Supernatural
- Introduction
- Renaissance Occult Thought
  - Literary and Philosophical Background
- Witches, Ghosts, And Fairies
  - Witchcraft
  - White Magic and Black Witches
- Staging The Supernatural
  - Supernatural Intervention: Two Dramatic Traditions
  - Spectacles of Strangeness: The Staging of Supernatural Scenes
- Further Reading
Marriage
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
- Criticism: Marriage In The Comedies
- Criticism: Marriage In The Romances
- Criticism: Marriage In The Tragedies
Marriage as Comic Closure
- Introduction
- As You Like It
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- The Two Gentlemen Of Verona
Morality
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
  - Morality and Literature—The Necessary Conflict
  - Moral Play Components in Shakespeare's Scenes
- Criticism: Moral Corruption: Macbeth And Hamlet
- Criticism: Morality And Society: Comedies And Romances
- Criticism: Evil And Vice
  - ‘“Craft Against Vice’: Morality Play Elements in Measure for Measure
  - The Certainty of Evil: Richard III and Othello
- Criticism: Morality And Theology
  - Jessica's Morals: A Theological View
  - Accommodation and Synecdoche: Calvin's God in King Lear
Music
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
- Criticism: Themes
Myth
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
  - Myth and Naturalism: Merchant to Macbeth
  - Shakespeare's Theory of Mythology
- Criticism: Mythic Patterns In The Tragedies
- Criticism: Mythological Structure And Allusion: Romances And Comedies
- Criticism: Ovid's Metamorphoses: Shakespeare'S Adaptation Of Myth
Pastoral in Shakespeare's Works
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
  - Shakespeare's Golden Worlds
  - Pastoral Speakers
- Criticism: Pastoral Elements In The Comedies
- Criticism: Pastoral Elements In The Romances
- Criticism: Pastoral Elements In The Tragedies
  - King Lear as Pastoral Tragedy
  - ‘This is Venice: My house is not a grange’: Othello's Landscape of the Mind
Politics and Power
- Introduction
- Overviews
- Politics And The Tudor Theater
- Elizabethan England
  - Making History
- Rome
  - Shakespeare's Rome: Politics and Theater
- Further Reading
Psychoanalytic Interpretations of Shakespeare's Works
- Introduction
- Overviews
- Patriarchy, Gender, And Family
- Jealousy: Othello And The Winter's Tale
  - Othello: Jealousy as Mimetic Contagion
  - Recasting Jealousy: A Reading of The Winter's Tale
- Internal Conflict: Coriolanus And Measure For Measure
- Further Reading
Race
- Introduction
- Out of the Matrix: Shakespeare and Race-Writing
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Race And Colonialism
- Criticism: Race And Gender
- Criticism: Titus Andronicus: Aaron
  - Tragic Resolution in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
  - ‘Is Black So Base a Hue?’: Shakespeare's Aaron and the Politics and Poetics of Race
Religion and Theology
- Introduction
- Introduction: An Overview of Christian Interpretation
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Themes
Revenge
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
Ritual and Ceremony in Shakespeare's Plays
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Ritual And Ceremony In The Comedies
  - Shakespeare and Ritual: The Example of As You Like It
  - ‘Imagine No Worse of Them’: Hippolyta on the Ritual Threshold in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Criticism: Ritual And Ceremony In The History Plays
- Criticism: Ritual And Ceremony In The Tragedies
Saints Alive! Falstaff, Martin Marprelate, and the Staging of Puritanism
- Introduction
- I
- II
- III
Sexuality in Shakespeare
- Introduction
- The Language Of Sexuality
  - What Is Indecency?
  - Shakespeare's Bawdy Planet
- Sexual Identity
  - Nobody's Perfect: Or Why Did the English Stage Take Boys for Women?
- Female Sexuality And Misogyny
  - The Virgin Not: Language and Sexuality in Shakespeare
  - Fleshing His Will in the Spoil of Her Honour: Desire, Misogyny, and the Perils of Chivalry
- Further Reading
Shakespeare and Clarissa: 'General Nature', Genre and Sexuality
- Introduction
- 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
Shakespeare And Classical Civilization
- Introduction
- Overviews
  - Shakespeare and the Ancient World
  - The Ancient World in Shakespeare: Authenticity or Anachronism? A Retrospect
- Rome
- Vergil And Ovid
  - Vergil in Shakespeare: From Allusion to Imitation
  - Shakespeare and the Renaissance Ovid
- Greece
- Further Reading
Shakespeare and the End of History
- Introduction
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
Shakespeare's Bawdy
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
Shakespeare's Clowns and Fools
- Introduction
- Overviews
- Fools In The Histories And Historical Fools
- Fools In The Comedies
  - Foolery Shines Everywhere: The Fool's Function in the Romantic Comedies
  - Finding a Part for Parolles
- Fools In The Tragedies
  - The Tragic Dimension of Folly: Hamlet
  - 'Horn Pypes and Funeralls': Suggestions of Hope in Shakespeare's Tragedies
- Further Reading
Shakespeare's Representation of History
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Shakespeare And Historiography
- Criticism: The History Plays And Structural Issues
  - History, Theatricality, and the ‘Structural Problem’ in the Henry IV Plays
  - Time, Space and the Instability of History in the Henry IV Sequence
Shakespeare's Representation of Women
- Introduction
- Overviews
- Types Of Shakespearean Women Characters
- Gender Issues
- Performance Issues
  - Shakespeare's Celibate Stage
  - Playing the Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism and Shakespearean Performance
- Further Reading
Silence
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
Social Class
- Introduction
- Overviews
- The Poor In Shakespeare
  - Language, Politics, and Poverty in Shakespearian Drama
  - Shakespeare's Poor: 2 Henry VI
- Shakespearean Comedy And The Elizabethan Social Order
- Further Reading
Succession
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Succession In The History Plays
- Criticism: Succession In The Tragedies: Hamlet And Macbeth
The Authorship Controversy
- Introduction
- Overview
  - Doubts and Questions
- The Case For Shakespeare
  - The Man and the Myth
  - Deviations
- The Case Against Shakespeare: Anti-Stratfordian Arguments
  - Such a Deadly Life
  - Ten Arguments against Him
- William Shakespeare Vs. Edward De Vere, Earl Of Oxford
- Other Claimants: Bacon And Marlowe
  - The Case For Francis Bacon
  - Christopher Marlowe
- The "New" Poems: "Shall I Die?"
  - Shakespeare's New Poem: A Scholar's Clues and Conclusions
  - 'Shall I Die' Post Mortem: Defining Shakespeare
- The "New" Poems: "The Funeral Elegy
  - W[illiam] S[hakespeare]'s 'Funeral Elegy' and the Turn from the Theatrical
  - Who Wrote A Funerali Elegie?
- Further Reading
Time
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
- Criticism: Themes
Violence in Shakespeare's Works
- Introduction
- Overview
  - Shakespearean Violence: A Preliminary Survey
- The Politics Of Violence
  - Violence Done to Women on the Renaissance Stage
  - Monopolizing Violence: Henry V
- Domestic Violence
- Further Reading
War in Shakespeare's Plays
- Introduction
- Further Reading
- Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
Would Not the Beggar Then Forget Himself?: Christopher Sly and Autolycus
- Introduction
- The Taming of a Tinker
- Autolycus: A "Gentleman Born"