| Contents |
Machine generated contents note: Politics and Politic in Shakespeare's Drama -- Shakespeare and the Political Way -- Political Readings of Shakespeare's Dramas -- 1. Political Power and Othello -- Politics and Othello -- Political Power and Social Divisions -- Patriarchal Power -- Politic Government -- Sovereign Authority -- Machiavellian Trickery -- Public Speech -- Othello and the Political Way -- 2. Political power and Measure for Measure -- Politics in Measure for Measure -- Of Government -- Sexual Politics -- Political Speech -- Measure for Measure and the Political Way -- 3. Political and Military Power: Coriolanus -- Coriolanus and Politics -- Politics -- Body Politic -- Military Violence and the Political Way -- 4. Violence and Political Authority: Romeo and Juliet -- Romeo and Juliet and Civil Power -- Sovereign Power -- Patriarchal Power -- Machiavellian Strategy -- Violence and Political Power -- Gender and Commerce -- Political Economy, Violence, and Emotion -- 5. Sovereignty, Justice, and Political Power: King Lear -- Political Power and King Lear -- Sovereignty and Regime Change -- Sovereign and Social Violence -- Politics, Emotion, and Justice -- Violence, Passion, and the Political Way -- 6. Friendship and Justice: Merchant of Venice and Timon of Athens -- Politics and Friendship -- Politics, Friendship, and Timon of Athens -- Economy, Friendship, and Justice in Merchant of Venice -- Patriarchy and Resistance -- State and Economy -- Justice and Friendship -- Political Economy and the Political Way -- 7. Politics and Magic: Macbeth and Tempest -- Politics and Magic -- Macbeth, Sovereignty, and Magic -- The Tempest and Magic Rule -- Magic and Politics -- Theatrical Magic -- 8. Politics and Theatre: Hamlet -- Political Theatre -- Hamlet and Politics -- Politics and Sovereignty -- Patriarchy and Misogyny -- Theatricality. |
| Summary |
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. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2020933063 |
| ISBN | 9780198848615 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0198848617 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | (electronic book) |
| ISBN | (electronic book) |
