Shadowplay : the hidden beliefs and coded politics of William Shakespeare / Clare Asquith. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Asquith, Clare.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Political and social views.

Shakespeare, William.

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

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Religion.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History--16th century.

Politics and literature.

Literature and history--Great Britain--History--16th century.

Literature and history.

Christianity and literature--England--History--16th century.

Christianity and literature.

Historical drama, English--History and criticism.

Historical drama, English.

Political plays, English--History and criticism.

Political plays, English.

Catholics--England--History--16th century.

Catholics.

Catholics--England--Intellectual life.

Historical drama, English--History and criticism--16th century--England.

Political plays, English--History and criticism--England.

Catholics--History.

Catholics--Intellectual life.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 348 p. )

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : PublicAffairs, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Examines possible hidden code terms and double meanings in Shakespeare's plays, which the author maintains was the playwright's way of registering his dissent to the political situation in Elizabethan England.

"In sixteenth-century England many loyal subjects to the crown were asked to make a terrible choice: serve their monarch or their God. The schism between the Crown and the Catholic Church had widened from a theological dispute in the reign of Henry VIII to bitter political conflict under Elizabeth I. It was also the era of the greatest creative genius the world has ever known: William Shakespeare. How, then, was it possible that such a remarkable man born into such violently volatile times should apparently make no comment about the state of England in his work? He did. But it was hidden." "Clare Asquith traces the common code used covertly by dissident writers in the sixteenth century to discuss the tribulations of their time, and reveals that the acknowledged master of this forgotten art form was William Shakespeare. Constantly attacking and exposing a regime that he believed had seized illegal control of the country he loved, Shakespeare's work, seen from this new perspective, offers a revelatory insight into the politics and personalities of his era."--BOOK JACKET.

Contents:

1. The silence of John Nobody

2. Secret voices

3. The protectors

4. Reconciliation, 1588-1592

5. Persecution, 1592-1594

6. Rage, 1594

7. Addressing the queen, 1595-1599

8. The Catholic resistance, 1599-1600

9. Appeal to the undecided, 1600

10. Failure, 1601-1602

11. The king's man, 1603-1604

12. The powder keg, 1605-1606

13. The post-mortem, 1606-1608

14. The second hope, 1608-1616

15. Silenced, 1610-1611

16. 'The lost man', 1611 and after

App. Sonnet 152.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-304) and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph