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Shakespeare’s Sugared Sonnets (Routledge Library Editions: Study of Shakespeare)
by Katharine M. WilsonIn the course of some research into the musical element in English poetry, Dr Wilson read the work of the Elizabethan sonneteers chronologically and was struck by a suspicion that Shakespeare’s sonnets were parodies. Later she carried out a more thorough investigation, and this book, originally published in 1974, is the product: her early impressions had been justified beyond all expectation. Her investigation involved examining the background of each of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and this in itself is a contribution to scholarship. A surprising number of them are shown to be direct parodies of particular sonnets; all of them guy the sonnet convention, and the more difficult ones are easily explained by this hypothesis. Fresh correspondences between Shakespeare and his predecessors have come to light and his relationship with them is seen to be mocking. This is demonstrated in his borrowings from Ovid also, while the opening seventeen sonnets gain point as parody of Erasmus on marriage. The book opens with a short note on the origin of the sonnet in song, chivalric love and Plato. The sonnet theme in Shakespeare’s early comedies is treated freshly and the author throws light on the plays from a new angle. In the final chapter, among other themes, the implication of dating is considered, and here too some new material is discussed. However, Dr Wilson is aiming at a wider readership than that of scholars alone. She has a view of Shakespeare as a young man catering for "young-man laughter", as she puts it, and she never loses sight of this aspect in her study. Although the academic basis is there, the presentation is not academic. Her aim is clearly to share the joke with her readers.
Shakespeare’s Surrogates
by Sonya Freeman LoftisShakespeare's Surrogates contends that the adaptation of Renaissance drama played a key role in the development of modern drama's major aesthetic movements. This book reveals the way that modern drama built itself in response to its Elizabethan past, ransacking the literary work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries for 'new' innovations in dramatic technique and content. Indeed, playwrights central to the evolution of modern and postmodern drama often returned at key moments in their writing careers to the remains of the Renaissance. Sonya Freeman Loftis argues that for playwrights such as Bernard Shaw, Bertolt Brecht, Eugene O'Neill, Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard, and Heiner Muller, Shakespearean appropriation was central both to the creation of their public personas and to the development of their own dramatic canons. "
Shakespeare's Tempest and Capitalism: The Storm of History
by Helen C. ScottIn this forceful study, Helen C. Scott situates The Tempest within Marxist analyses of the ‘primitive accumulation’ of capital, which she suggests help explain the play’s continued and particular resonance. The ‘storm’ of the title refers both to Shakespeare’s Tempest hurtling through time, and to Walter Benjamin’s concept of history as a succession of violent catastrophes. Scott begins with an account of the global processes of dispossession—of the peasantry and indigenous populations—accompanying the emergence of capitalism, which generated new class relationships, new understandings of human subjectivity, and new forms of oppression around race, gender, and disability. Developing a detailed reading of the play at its moment of production in the business of theatre in 1611, Scott then moves gracefully through the global reception history, showing how its central thematic concerns and figurative patterns bespeak the upheavals and dispossessions of successive stages of capitalist development. Paying particular attention to moments of social crisis, and unearthing a radical political tradition, Scott follows the play from its hostile takeover in the Restoration, through its revival by the Romantics, and consolidation and contestation in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century transatlantic modernism generated an acutely dystopic Tempest, then during the global transformations of the 1960s postcolonial writers permanently associated it with decolonization. At century’s end the play became a vehicle for exploring intersectional oppression, and the remarkable ‘Sycorax school’ featured iconoclastic readings by writers such as Abena Busia, May Joseph, and Sylvia Wynter. Turning to both popular culture and high-profile stage productions in the twenty-first century, Scott explores the ramifications and figurative potential of Shakespeare's Tempest for global social and ecological crises today. Sensitive to the play’s original concerns and informed by recent scholarship on performance and reception history as well as disability studies, Scott’s moving analysis impels readers towards a fresh understanding of sea-change and metamorphosis as potent symbols for the literal and figurative tempests of capitalism’s old age now threatening ‘the great globe itself.’
Shakespeare's Theatre: A History
by Richard DuttonShakespeare’s Theatre: A History examines the theatre spaces used by William Shakespeare, and explores these spaces in relation to the social and political framework of the Elizabethan era. The text journeys from the performing spaces of the provincial inns, guild halls and houses of the gentry of the Bard’s early career, to the purpose-built outdoor playhouses of London, including the Globe, the Theatre, and the Curtain, and the royal courts of Elizabeth and James I. The author also discusses the players for whom Shakespeare wrote, and the positioning—or dispositioning—of audience members in relation to the stage. Widely and deeply researched, this fascinating volume is the first to draw on the most recent archaeological work on the remains of the Rose and the Globe, as well as continuing publications from the Records of Early English Drama project. The book also explores the contentious view that the ‘plot’ of The Seven Deadly Sins (part II), provides unprecedented insight into the working practices of Shakespeare’s company and includes a complete and modernized version of the ‘plot’. Throughout, the author relates the practicalities of early modern playing to the evolving systems of aristocratic patronage and royal licensing within which they developed Insightful and engaging, Shakespeare’s Theatre is ideal reading for undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars of literature and theatre studies.
Shakespeare's Theatre (Theatre Production Studies)
by Peter ThomsonReviews of the First Edition `...valuable and enjoyable reading for all studying Shakespeare's plays.' Following in the patternestablished by John Russell Brown for the excellent series (Theatre and Production Studies), he provides first an account of Shakespeare's company, then a study of three individual plays Twelfth Night, Hamlet and Macbeth as performed by the company. Peter Thomson writes in a crisp, sharp, enlivening style.' TLS '`...the best analysis yet of Elizabethan acting practices, excavated form the texts themselves rather than reconstructed on basis of one monolithic theory, and an essay on Hamlet that is a model of Critical intelligence and theatrical invention.' Yearbook of English Studies `Synthesizes the important facts and summarizes projects with a vigorous prose style, and expertly applies his experience in both practical drama and academic teaching to his discussion.' Review of English Studies
Shakespeare’s Things: Shakespearean Theatre and the Non-Human World in History, Theory, and Performance (Perspectives on the Non-Human in Literature and Culture)
by Brett Gamboa Lawrence SwitzkyFloating daggers, enchanted handkerchiefs, supernatural storms, and moving statues have tantalized Shakespeare’s readers and audiences for centuries. The essays in Shakespeare’s Things: Shakespearean Theatre and the Non-Human World in History, Theory, and Performance renew attention to non-human influence and agency in the plays, exploring how Shakespeare anticipates new materialist thought, thing theory, and object studies while presenting accounts of intention, action, and expression that we have not yet noticed or named. By focusing on the things that populate the plays—from commodities to props, corpses to relics—they find that canonical Shakespeare, inventor of the human, gives way to a lesser-known figure, a chronicler of the ceaseless collaboration among persons, language, the stage, the object world, audiences, the weather, the earth, and the heavens.
Shakespeare's Thought: Unobserved Details And Unsuspected Depths In Thirteen Plays
by David LowenthalApart from the dedicatory poem, this edition adds six new chapters to the original and sets forth under a new title that is a somewhat better guide to these pages than the old one (Shakespeare and the Good Life: Ethics and Politics in Dramatic Form). For attention to detail, I've been inspired by Thomas de Quincey's astonishing claim (in his "On the Knocking on the Door in Macbeth") that absolutely nothing in a Shakespearean play is there by accident.
Shakespeare's Tragedies
by G B HarrisonFirst published in 1951. G B Harrison here recognizes that Shakespeare's tragedies were intended for performance in a theatre and that the playwright's conspicuous gift among his contemporaries was a sympathy for joy and sorrow, pity and terror, and right and wrong of his people. The plays covered are: Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus and Timon of Athens.
Shakespeare's Tragedies
by William ShakespeareA collection containing Antony & Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Cymbeline, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Life of Timon of Athens, The tragedy of Titus Andronicus, and The History of Troilus and Cressida.
Shakespeare's Tragedies: All That Matters (All That Matters)
by Michael ScottIn Shakespeare's Tragedies: All That Matters, Michael Scott explores and explains the secrets that have made Shakespeare's tragedies so enduring that they continue to be performed, watched and studied by millions of people every year. Professor Scott concentrates on the four great tragedies - Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth - and builds an argument based around Shakespeare's use of language to prompt the audience's imagination and thought. This original little book, and its companion volume, Shakespeare's Comedies, will help you understand each of the plays in the context of its oeuvre and the changing concept of Shakespearean tragedy across the centuries.Appealing to both students and general readers, this book gives a fascinating introduction to Shakespeare's tragedies - and what matters most about them.
Shakespeare’s Tragic Art
by Rhodri LewisA new account of Shakespearean tragedy as a response to life in an uncertain worldIn Shakespeare&’s Tragic Art, Rhodri Lewis offers a powerfully original reassessment of tragedy as Shakespeare wrote it—of what drew him toward tragic drama, what makes his tragedies distinctive, and why they matter.After reconstructing tragic theory and practice as Shakespeare and his contemporaries knew them, Lewis considers in detail each of Shakespeare&’s tragedies from Titus Andronicus to Coriolanus. He argues that these plays are a series of experiments whose greatness lies in their author&’s nerve-straining determination to represent the experience of living in a world that eludes rational analysis. They explore not just our inability to know ourselves as we would like to, but the compensatory and generally unacknowledged fictions to which we bind ourselves in our hunger for meaning—from the political, philosophical, social, and religious to the racial, sexual, personal, and familial. Lewis&’s Shakespeare not only creates tragedies that exceed those written before them. Through his art, he also affirms and invigorates the kinds of knowing that are available to intelligent animals like us.A major reevaluation of Shakespeare&’s tragedies, Shakespeare&’s Tragic Art is essential reading for anyone interested in Shakespeare, tragedy, or the capacity of literature to help us navigate the perplexities of the human condition.
Shakespeare's Tragic Justice (Routledge Library Editions: Renaissance Drama)
by C. J. SissonThe problem of justice seems to have haunted Shakespeare as it haunted Renaissance Christendom. In this book, first published in 1963, four aspects of the problems of justice in action in Shakespeare’s great tragedies are explored. This study is based on the lifetime’s research of Elizabethan habits of mind by one of the most distinguished Shakespearean scholars, and will be of interest to students of English Literature, Drama and Performance.
Shakespeare's Tragic Sequence
by Kenneth MuirFirst published in 1972. The emphasis of this book is that each of Shakespeare's tragedies demanded its own individual form and that although certain themes run through most of the tragedies, nearly all critics refrain from the attempt to apply external rules to them. The plays are almost always concerned with one person; they end with the death of the hero; the suffering and calamity that befall him are exceptional; and the tragedies include the medieval idea of the reversal of fortune.
Shakespeare's Tragic Skepticism
by Millicent BellShakespeare's Tragic Skepticism has an ambitious aim. In writing it, I have tried to mark out a pathway across a trampled field, discussing plays more commented on over four centuries than anything else ever written except the Hebraic-Christian Bible.
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night: A Graphic Novel (Classics in Graphics #7)
by Steve Barlow Steve SkidmoreShakespeare's Twelfth Night like you've never seen it - or read it - before! Classics in Graphics: Twelfth Night has been adapted into a graphic novel by expert authors, Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, with illustrations by Wendy Tan Shiau Wei. Experience the famous (and famously confusing) love triangle, presented with all the flair of your favourite rom-com.Classics in Graphics is a series of graphic novels for readers aged 10 plus that has inclusion at its heart, flinging wide the doors of literature for all to enter and understand. Including dyslexia-friendly design and encouraging readers to relate to iconic roles - casting spells, falling in love and winning duels. Each graphic novel includes pitch-perfect illustrations for depicting tragedy, romance, comedy or magic PLUS: - snappy simplified text presenting Shakespeare's themes clearly - introductory materials to help set the scene and context of each story - heaps of extra material at the back to keep the learning and fun going, including an exploration of themes in the play, the language, Shakespeare's inspirations, the publication and performance of the play in history, a timeline of Shakespeare's life and works, and much more! Plays available in the series include: Macbeth, The Tempest, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Twelfth NightPraise for Classics in Graphics: "[...] an encouraging entry point to Shakespeare for my kids, and [...] an excellent job converting challenging language and literary themes to make it very inclusive, smoothing ease of understanding dialogue, plot, and narration without dumbing it down." - EricWilliamson, leagueofcomicgeeks.com
Shakespeare's Understanding of Honor (Studies in Statesmanship)
by John AlvisShakespeare's Understanding of Honor by John Alvis.
Shakespeare’s Unmuted Women (Routledge Studies in Shakespeare)
by Gül KurtuluşShakespeare’s Unmuted Women explores women’s speeches in selected plays by Shakespeare, highlighting women’s discerning insight as a vital ingredient in these selected works. The book discusses the use of rhetoric in speeches by women as a cementing material that supports the casing of the incidents. Women holding forth on the issues related to the common concerns emerged in the plays perform a distinguishing role in strengthening the bond between decisions taken and executed by each character and make their major important contribution to the overall impact of the play. Comprising six chapters, the volume analyses Cordelia’s and Desdemona’s speeches in King Lear and Othello; Cleopatra’s and Tamora’s speeches in Antony and Cleopatra and Titus Andronicus; Beatrice’s and Rosalind’s speeches in Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It; and Katherine’s and Lady Anne’s speeches in Henry V and Richard III, respectively. The text discusses women’s rich and profound discourse in these works to accentuate the meaningful input in verbal communication. In Shakespeare’s selected plays, women’s insightfulness and perspicuity are closely considered to emphasize how women make efficient use of rhetoric, aptly used by Queen Elizabeth I during Shakespeare’s time. Queen Elizabeth’s outstanding public speeches inspired those who listened to her and Shakespeare’s women are partial embodiments of her.
Shakespeare's Webs: Networks of Meaning in Renaissance Drama
by Arthur F. KinneyIn this book, renowned Renaissance drama critic Arthur F. Kinney argues that Shakespeare's method of composing plays through networks of meanings can be seen as a harbinger of today's information technology. Drawing upon hypertext and cognitive theory--areas that have for some time promised to take on more importance in the sphere of Shakespeare Studies--as well as the central metaphor of the Routledge collection The Renaissance Computer, Kinney looks in detail at four objects/images in Shakespeare's plays--mirrors, maps, clocks, and books--and explores the ways in which they make up networks of meaning within single plays and across the dramatist's body of work that anticipate in some ways the networks of meaning or "information" now possible in the computer age.
Shakespeare’s ‘Whores’
by Kay StantonShakespeare's 'Whores' studies each use of the word 'whore' in Shakespeare's canon, focusing especially on the positive personal and social effects of female sexuality, as represented in several major female characters, from the goddess Venus, to the queen Cleopatra, to the cross-dressing Rosalind, and many others.
Shakespeare's Will
by Vern ThiessenAn exploration of one of the most silent characters in history: Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare. The play sheds light on unexplored aspects of Hathaway's life by looking through the eyes and heart of the woman who spent a lifetime with—and without—the great poet. This work is the celebration of a life unbowed by tragedy and unapologetic in the face of public scorn.
Shakespeare's Women: Performance and Conception
by David MannDavid Mann examines the influence of the Elizabethan cross-dressed tradition on the performance and conception of Shakespeare's female roles through an analysis of all 205 extant plays written for the adult theater. The study provides both an historical context, showing how performance practice developed in the era before Shakespeare, and a comparative one, in revealing how dramatists in general treated their female characters and the influence their characterization had upon Shakespeare's writing. The book challenges many views of the sexual ethos of Elizabethan theater, offering instead a picture of Shakespeare which pays less attention to his supposed gender politics and more to his ability to exploit the cross-dressed convention as a dramatic medium. By challenging the gay and polemical feminist accounts that currently dominate the treatment of Elizabethan cross-dressing, the book restores its importance as a mainstream performance topic for academics and students.
Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion (Canto Classics Ser.)
by Ben Crystal David CrystalA vital resource for scholars, students and actors, this book contains glosses and quotes for over 14,000 words that could be misunderstood by or are unknown to a modern audience. Displayed panels look at such areas of Shakespeare's language as greetings, swear-words and terms of address. Plot summaries are included for all Shakespeare's plays and on the facing page is a unique diagramatic representation of the relationships within each play.
Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion
by David Crystal Ben Crystal Stanley WellsA vital resource for scholars, students and actors, this book contains glosses and quotes for over 14,000 words that could be misunderstood by or are unknown to a modern audience. Displayed panels look at such areas of Shakespeare's language as greetings, swear-words and terms of address. Plot summaries are included for all Shakespeare's plays and on the facing page is a unique diagramatic representation of the relationships within each play.
Shakespearian Comedy
by H. B. CharltonFirst published in 1938. This is a survey of Shakepeare's comedies which illustrates the playwright's increasing grasp on the art and idea of comedy. Themes, characters and plays covered include: Romanticism in Shakespearian comedy; Shakespeare's Jew, Falstaff, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Dark Comedies.
A Shakespearian Grammar: An Attempt to Illustrate Some of the Differences Between Elizabethan and Modern English
by E. A. AbbottThe finest and fullest guide to the peculiarities of Elizabethan syntax, grammar, and prosody, this volume addresses every idiomatic usage found in Shakespeare's works (with additional references to the works of Jonson, Bacon, and others). Its informative introduction, which compares Shakespearian and modern usage, is followed by sections on grammar (classified according to parts of speech) and prosody (focusing on pronunciation). The book concludes with an examination of the uses of metaphor and simile and a selection of notes and questions suitable for classroom use. Each of more than 500 classifications is illustrated with quotes, all of which are fully indexed. Unabridged republication of the classic 1870 edition.