Shakespeare, tragedy and menopause : the anxious womb / Victoria L. McMahon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McMahon, Victoria L., author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Palgrave Shakespeare studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Characters.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Women in literature.

Menopause in literature.

Characters and characteristics.

Physical Description:

xvii, 303 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, an imprint of Springer Nature Switzerland, [2023]

Summary:

"Shakespeare was not only aware of the socio-cultural fears and anxieties generated by the older womans body but with the characterization of his tragic ageing females, Shakespeare becomes the first literary giant to explore the physiological and psychosocial condition that we have come to know as menopause. Although menopause was not defined as a medical, physiological or sociocultural event for the early moderns, this book argues that such a medical and cultural transition can, in fact, be identified by sub-textual clues distinguished by various embodied anxieties. It explores several ageing women of the

Shakespearean tragedies as they transition through this liminal menopausal period. Theoretically underscored by humoral theory, the analysis is metonymically centered upon the womb as the seat of menopausal anxiety. These menopausal undercurrents, not only permeate the dramatic action of each play, but also emanate outward to reflect the medical, physiological, cultural, social, and religious concerns generated by the ageing woman of the early modern period at large." -- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

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

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

303127203X

9783031272035

OCLC:

1365363248