How Shakespeare put politics on the stage : power and succession in the history plays / Peter Lake.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lake, Peter, author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Histories.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Historical drama, English--History and criticism.

Historical drama, English.

Literature and history.

Politics in literature.

Chronicle plays of William Shakespeare.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xv, 666 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2016]

Summary:

"With an ageing, childless monarch, lingering divisions due to the Reformation, and the threat of foreign enemies, Shakespeare's England was fraught with unparalleled anxiety and complicated problems. In this monumental work, Peter Lake reveals, more than any previous critic, the extent to which Shakespeare's plays speak to the depth and sophistication of Elizabethan political culture and the Elizabethan imagination. Lake reveals the complex ways in which Shakespeare's major plays engaged with the events of his day, particularly regarding the uncertain royal succession, theological and doctrinal debates, and virtue and virtù in politics. Through his plays, Lake demonstrates, Shakespeare was boldly in conversation with his audience about a range of contemporary issues. This remarkable literary and historical analysis pulls the curtain back on what Shakespeare was really telling his audience and what his plays tell us today about the times in which they were written"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I Contexts and structures

Part II Past into present and future; 2 and 3 Henry VI and the politics of lost legitimacy

1 Losing legitimacy: monarchical weakness and the descent into disorder 69

2 Disorder dissected (i): the inversion of the gender order 82

3 Disorder dissected (ii): the inversion of the social order 96

4 Hereditary 'right' and political legitimacy anatomised 108

Part III Happy endings and alternative outcomes: 1 Henry VI and Richard III

5 How not to go there: 1 Henry VI as prequel and alternative ending 125

6 Richard III: political ends, providential means 149

7 Going Roman: Richard III and Titus Andronicus compared 171

Part IV How (not) to depose a tyrant: King John and Richard II

8 The Elizabethan resonances of the reign of King John 181

9 The first time as polemic, the second time as play: Shakespeare's King John and The troublesome reign compared 195

10 Richard II, or the rights and wrongs of resistance 236

11 Shakespeare and Parsons - again 270

Part V Tile Essexian circle squared, or a user's guide to the politics of popularity, honour and legitimacy

12 The loss of legitimacy and the politics of commodity dissected 291

13 Learning to be a bastard: Hal's second (plebeian) nature 320

14 Festive Falstaff: of popularity, puritans and princes 331

15 Henry V and the fruits of legitimacy 349

Part VI Using plays to read plays: the court politics of the dramatic riposte

16 Contemporary readings: Oldcastle/Falstaff, Cobham/Essex 401

17 Oldcastle redivivus 417

Part VII Julius Caesar: the dangers of playing pagan and republican politics in a Christian monarchy

18 The state we're in 437

19 The politics of honour (in a popular state) 442

20 Performing honour and the politics of popularity (in a popular state) 463

21 The politics of popularity and faction (in a popular state) 476

22 The politics of prodigy, prophecy and providence (in a pagan state) 492

23 Between Henry V and Hamlet 501

Part VIII Disillusion; Christian and pagan style

24 Hamlet 511

25 The morning after the night before: Troilus and Cressida as retrospect 534.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 604-649) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780300222715

0300222718

OCLC:

946481851