Shakespeare and the classics / edited by Charles Martindale and A.B. Taylor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Martindale, Charles, editor.

Taylor, A. B. (Albert Booth), editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Knowledge--Literature.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Knowledge--Greece.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Knowledge--Rome.

Classicism--England--History--16th century.

Classicism.

Classical literature--Appreciation--England.

Classical literature.

English literature--Classical influences.

English literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 319 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Shakespeare & the Classics

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Shakespeare and the Classics demonstrates that the classics are of central importance in Shakespeare's plays and in the structure of his imagination. Written by an international team of Shakespeareans and classicists, this book investigates Shakespeare's classicism and shows how he used a variety of classical books to explore crucial areas of human experience such as love, politics, ethics and history. The book focuses on Shakespeare's favourite classical authors, especially Ovid, Virgil, Seneca, Plautus and Terence, and, in translation only, Plutarch. Attention is also paid to the humanist background and to Shakespeare's knowledge of Greek literature and culture. The final section, from the perspective of reception, examines how Shakespeare's classicism was seen and used by later writers. This accessible book offers a rounded and comprehensive treatment of Shakespeare's classicism and will be a useful first port of call for students and others approaching the subject.

Contents:

PART I. AN INITIAL PERSPECTIVE

Shakespeare and humanistic culture / Colin Burrow

PART II. 'SMALL LATINE'

OVID

Petruchio is 'Kated': The taming of the shrew and Ovid / Vanda Zajko

Ovid's myths and the unsmooth course of love in A midsummer night's dream / A.B. Taylor

Shakespeare's learned heroines in Ovid's schoolroom / Heather James

VIRGIL

Shakespeare and Virgil / Charles Martindale

PLAUTUS AND TERENCE

Shakespeare's reception of Plautus reconsidered / Wolfgang Riehle

Shakespeare, Plautus, and the discovery of new comic space / Raphael Lyne

SENECA

'Confusion now hath made his masterpiece': Senecan resonances in Macbeth / Yves Peyre?

'These are the only men': Seneca and monopoly in Hamlet 2.2 / Erica Sheen

PART III. 'LESSE GREEK'

'Character' in Plutarch and Shakespeare: Brutus, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony / John Roe

Plutarch, Shakespeare, and the alpha males / Gordon Braden

GENERAL

Action at a distance: Shakespeare and the Greeks / A.D. Nuttall

GREEK ROMANCES

Shakespeare and Greek romance: 'Like an old tale still' / Stuart Gillespie

GREEK TRAGEDY

Shakespeare and Greek tragedy: strange relationship / Michael Silk

PART IV. THE RECEPTION OF SHAKESPEAR'S CLASSICISM

'The English Homer': Shakespeare, Longinus, and English 'neo-classicism' / David Hopkins

'There is no end but addition': the later reception of Shakespeare's classicism / Sarah Annes Brown.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 294-310) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-14622-4

1-280-54086-9

0-511-21462-6

0-511-21641-6

0-511-21104-X

0-511-31523-6

0-511-48376-7

0-511-21281-X

OCLC:

560251702