Shakespeare and the Middle Ages

by Driver, Martha W.

• ISBN13: 9780786434053
• ISBN10: 0786434058
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-30
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing

Summary

Every generation reinvents Shakespeare for its own needs, imagining through its particular choices and emphases the Shakespeare that it values. The man himself was deeply involved in his own kind of historical reimagining. This collection of essays examines the playwright's medieval sources and inspiration, and how they shaped his works. With a foreword by Michael Almereyda (director of the Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke) and dramaturge Dakin Matthews, these thirteen essays analyze the ways in which our modern understanding of medieval life has been influenced by our appreciation of Shakespeare's plays.

Author Biography

Martha W. Driver is distinguished professor of English and women's and gender studies at Pace University. Sid Ray is a professor of English and women's and gender studies at Pace University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vi
Foreword: “The Skeleton in the Mirror”	p. 1
General Introduction	p. 7
“Abstract and Brief Chronicles of Time”: The Histories
Introduction to Part I	p. 21
“Richard's Himself Again”: The Body of Richard III on Stage and Screen	p. 27
Falstaff in America	p. 49
Scoring the Fields of the Dead: Musical Styles and Approaches to Postbattle Scenes from Henry V (1944, 1989)	p. 62
“Carnal, Bloody, and Unnatural Acts”: The Tragedies
Introduction to Part II	p. 81
“We're Everyone You Depend On”: Filming Shakespeare's Peasants	p. 89
Medieval Hamlet in Performance	p. 105
Finding Gruoch: The Hidden Genealogy of Lady Macbeth in Text and Cinematic Performance	p. 116
“Many Merry Men”: The Comedies
Introduction to Part III	p. 135
Reading A Midsummer Night's Dream through Middle English Romance	p. 140
“Chaucer … the Story Gives”: Troilus and Cressida and The Two Noble Kinsmen	p. 161
Shakespeare's Virgin Mother on the Modern Stage: All's Well, That Ends Well and the Madonna del Parto Tradition	p. 178
“Tragical-Comical-Historical-Pastoral”: The Romances
Introduction to Part IV	p. 195
“The Quick and the Dead”: Performing the Poet Gower in Pericles	p. 201
Shakespeare as Medievalist: What It Means for Performing Pericles	p. 215
A Touch of Chaucer in The Winter's Tale	p. 232
Caliban's God: The Medieval and Renaissance Man in the Moon	p. 245
About the Contributors	p. 263
Index	p. 267
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