-About this book
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.
-Contents
Note on Texts and Citations ix
Introduction: Political Power and the Political Way 1
Politics and Politic in Shakespeare’s Drama 1
Shakespeare and the Political Way 6
Political Readings of Shakespeare’s Dramas 12
1. Political Power and Othello 17
Politics and Othello 17
Political Power and Social Divisions 23
Patriarchal Power 25
Politic Government 28
Sovereign Authority 29
Machiavellian Trickery 32
Public Speech 35
Othello and the Political Way 38
2. Political power and Measure for Measure 40
Politics in Measure for Measure 40
Of Government 50
Sexual Politics 52
Political Speech 55
Measure for Measure and the Political Way 61
3. Political and Military Power: Coriolanus 63
Coriolanus and Politics 63
Politics 69
Body Politic 76
Military Violence and the Political Way 88
4. Violence and Political Authority: Romeo and Juliet 89
Romeo and Juliet and Civil Power 89
Sovereign Power 94
Patriarchal Power 96
Machiavellian Strategy 98
Violence and Political Power 101
Gender and Commerce 105
Political Economy, Violence, and Emotion 109
5. Sovereignty, Justice, and Political Power: King Lear 110
Political Power and King Lear 110
Sovereignty and Regime Change 121
Sovereign and Social Violence 131
Politics, Emotion, and Justice 137
Violence, Passion, and the Political Way 143
6. Friendship and Justice: Merchant of Venice and Timon of Athens 144
Politics and Friendship 144
Politics, Friendship, and Timon of Athens 148
Economy, Friendship, and Justice in Merchant of Venice 152
Patriarchy and Resistance 156
State and Economy 162
Justice and Friendship 166
Political Economy and the Political Way 170
7. Politics and Magic: Macbeth and Tempest 171
Politics and Magic 171
Macbeth, Sovereignty, and Magic 177
The Tempest and Magic Rule 180
Magic and Politics 184
Theatrical Magic 191
8. Politics and Theatre: Hamlet 194
Political Theatre 194
Hamlet and Politics 198
Politics and Sovereignty 206
Patriarchy and Misogyny 210
Theatricality 216
Conclusion: The Political Way 220
References 225
Index 241
-Caractéristiques
Date de parution : 30 Aout 2020
N.de pages : 275 pages
éditeur : OUP Oxford
Language: English
ISBN : 0198848617
ASIN : B08GSS78QJ
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