Shakespeare And The Political Way

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Synopsis
Studies of Shakespeare and politics often ask the question whether his dramas are on the side of aristocratic or monarchical sovereign authority, or are on the side of those who resist; whether he endorses a standard view of male and patriarchal authority, or whether his cross-dressing heroines put him among feminist thinkers. Scholars also show that Shakespeare's representations of rule, revolt, and arguments about laws and constitutions draw on and allude to stories and real events that were contemporaneous for him, as well as historical ones.

Building on scholarship about Shakespeare and politics, this book argues that Shakespeare's representations and stagings of political power, sovereignty, resistance, and controversy are more complex. The merits of political life, as opposed to life governed by monetary exchange, religious truth, supernatural power, military heroism, or interpersonal love, are rehearsed in the plots. And the clashing and contradictory meanings of politics -- its association with free truthful speech but also with dishonest hypocrisy, with open action and argument as much as occult behind the scenes manoevring -- are dramatized by him, to show that although violence, lies, and authoritarianism do often win out in the world there is another kind of politics, and a political way that we would do well to follow when we can. The book offers original readings of the characters and plots of Shakespeare's dramas in order to illustrate the subtlety of his pictures of political power, how it works, and what is wrong and right with it.

Copyright:
2020

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
272 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780198848615
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Elizabeth Frazer
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Drama, Plays and Theater, Language Arts, Politics and Government
Submitted By:
Daproim Africa
Proofread By:
Daproim Africa
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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