Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide

by Wells, Stanley; Cowen Orlin, Lena

• ISBN13: 9780199245222
• ISBN10: 0199245223
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-04-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Edited by Stanley Wells and Lena Cowen Orlin, this stimulating and comprehensive guide to Shakespeare is an ideal text for undergraduate students. It includes over forty specially commissioned essays by an outstanding team of scholars. Each essay is written in an accessible and engaging style and is followed by annotated suggestions for further reading. Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide is divided into four key parts. Part One offers concise introductions to the literary and historical contexts in which Shakespeare lived and worked. It covers the society, culture, language, theatre, and playwriting conventions of Shakespeare's time and also discusses his contemporary impact. Part Two offers critical overviews of Shakespeare's achievements in the major genres. Each overview is followed by a reading that explores Shakespeare's use of the traditions, scope, and boundaries of that genre in one of his key works. Part Three discusses current critical approaches to the study of Shakespeare. Each chapter outlines a specific approach and is followed by a reading applying that approach to one of Shakespeare's works. Part Four offers chapters on Shakespeare's intellectual and cultural impact over the ages.

Author Biography

Stanley Wells is currently Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford, and was Professor of Shakespeare Studies, and Director of the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham from 1988 to 97, where he is now Emeritus Professor. He is the general editor of the Oxford Shakespeare, and co-editor of the Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works. With Peter Holland he is general editor of the Oxford Shakespeare Topics, and, with Michael Dobson, he recently edited the best-selling Oxford Companion to Shakespeare.
Lena Cowen Orlin is Professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Executive Director of the Shakespeare Association of America. Her publications include Material London, Ca. 1600 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), Elizabethan Households (University of Washington Press, 1995), and Private Matters and Public Cultures in Post-Reformation England (Cornell University Press, 1994).

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	xxiii
List of contributors	xxv
Part I Shakespeare's life and times	1	(164)
Why study Shakespeare?	3	(6)
Stanley Wells
Shakespeare's life and career	9	(11)
Lois Potter
Shakespeare's home and family	9	(1)
Early acting and writing career	10	(1)
Poetry and the Earl of Southampton	11	(1)
The Lord Chamberlain's Men	12	(2)
The Globe	14	(1)
The King's Men	15	(2)
Retirement and death	17	(1)
Further reading	18	(2)
Theatre in London	20	(12)
Gabriel Egan
The rise of the London industry	20	(1)
The venues	21	(3)
The companies	24	(2)
Readying the script	26	(2)
Staging	28	(1)
Conclusion	29	(1)
Further reading	30	(2)
Shakespeare's audiences	32	(12)
Margaret Jane Kidnie
Questions of evidence	33	(1)
The cultural space of Shakespeare's theatre	34	(1)
The early modern moralists	35	(3)
Promiscuity and the female spectator	38	(2)
Religion and rhetoric	40	(1)
The moralists in perspective	41	(1)
Further reading	42	(2)
Conventions of playwriting	44	(11)
Peter Thomson
Establishing the conventions	45	(3)
Established conventions	48	(5)
Further reading	53	(2)
Shakespeare's fellow dramatists	55	(12)
A. R. Braunmuller
The uses of theatrical tradition	56	(1)
Young Shakespeare and his fellows	57	(2)
Dramatic languages	59	(1)
Dramatic London and its audiences	60	(2)
New heroes	62	(3)
A concluding example	65	(1)
Further reading	66	(1)
The language of Shakespeare	67	(12)
David Crystal
Levels of familiarity	68	(2)
Old and new within Early Modern English	70	(1)
Language variety in Early Modern English	71	(2)
Manipulating Early Modern English rules	73	(4)
Grammar: thou vs. you	73	(1)
Vocabulary	74	(2)
Pronunciation: the importance of rhythm	76	(1)
Conclusion	77	(1)
Further reading	78	(1)
Shakespeare's verse	79	(14)
Russ McDonald
The pattern of blank verse	80	(3)
Variations of the pattern	83	(5)
Sentence and line	88	(2)
Music and meaning	90	(1)
Further reading	91	(2)
The society of Shakespeare's England	93	(10)
Carole Levin
The court	93	(3)
The city of London	96	(2)
Life in the countryside	98	(1)
Those on the margins: witches, Jews, and Africans	99	(3)
Further reading	102	(1)
Daily life in town and country	103	(11)
Joan Thirsk
Country and town life	103	(3)
Homes and home life	106	(3)
Spending on luxuries	109	(1)
Food and health	109	(1)
Work and training	110	(3)
Further reading	113	(1)
Love, sex, and marriage	114	(13)
Martin Ingram
Spousals and the law of marriage	116	(2)
Courtship, consent, and constraint	118	(3)
Honour, honesty, and illicit sex	121	(2)
Marital relations and marriage breakdown	123	(2)
Conclusion	125	(1)
Further reading	125	(2)
Changing attitudes towards religion	127	(12)
Peter Lake
Late medieval Catholicism	127	(2)
Protestantism	129	(1)
Politics, dynastic and religious	130	(1)
The Elizabethan settlement	131	(1)
Puritans and conformists	132	(2)
Catholics under Elizabeth and James	134	(2)
James I	136	(1)
Further reading	137	(2)
Ideas of order	139	(12)
Lena Cowen Orlin
The religious cast of political thought	140	(1)
Order and degree in the universe	141	(1)
Obedience and the law of nature	142	(1)
A sovereign monarchy	143	(1)
Political dissent and rebellion	144	(1)
The patriarchal family	145	(1)
Contested authority in the household	146	(2)
The place of women	148	(1)
Triumphs of disorder	149	(1)
Further reading	150	(1)
Shakespeare's view of the world	151	(14)
Emily C. Bartels
The Mediterranean centre	153	(2)
Overseas expansion	155	(2)
Racial and ethnic `others'	157	(3)
The Moor	160	(2)
Conclusion	162	(1)
Further reading	163	(2)
Part II Shakespearian genres	165	(156)
Introduction	167	(8)
Lena Cowen Orlin
Literary genres	167	(1)
Shakespeare's comedies, histories, and tragedies	168	(2)
Dramatic variations and modern categorizations	170	(1)
The missing genres	171	(2)
The art of naming	173	(1)
Further reading	173	(2)
Romantic comedies	175	(18)
William C. Carroll
Theories of comedy	176	(3)
Contexts of comedy	179	(1)
Origins	180	(2)
Humour	182	(1)
Desire	183	(2)
Further reading	185	(1)
Reading: Twelfth Night, or What You Will	186	(5)
Further reading	191	(2)
English history plays	193	(19)
Phyllis Rackin
The uses of history	194	(1)
Nostalgia for a lost past	195	(3)
Shakespeare's early history plays	198	(1)
Shakespeare's later history plays	199	(4)
Further reading	203	(2)
Reading: Henry V	205	(6)
Further reading	211	(1)
Tragedies	212	(19)
Linda Woodbridge
Causes of disaster	213	(1)
Tragic scapegoats	214	(1)
Tragedy and other genres	215	(3)
The tragic hero	218	(2)
Radical tragedies	220	(2)
Further reading	222	(2)
Reading: Macbeth	224	(5)
Further reading	229	(2)
Roman plays	231	(18)
Alexander Leggatt
The story of Rome	231	(1)
Shakespeare and Rome	232	(1)
Roman values	233	(2)
Political institutions	235	(1)
Men and gods	236	(1)
Bodies on display	237	(1)
Roman women	238	(1)
Beyond Rome	239	(2)
Further reading	241	(1)
Reading: Julius Caesar	242	(5)
The road to assassination	242	(2)
The spirit of Caesar	244	(1)
Breakdown	245	(1)
Private lives	246	(1)
Further reading	247	(2)
Romances	249	(18)
Reginald Foakes
Romance and tragicomedy	250	(2)
Tragicomedy, theatricality, and the court masque	252	(2)
Pericles	254	(2)
Cymbeline	256	(1)
The Tempest	257	(2)
Further reading	259	(2)
Reading: The Winter's Tale	261	(5)
Further reading	266	(1)
Comical and tragical	267	(19)
Paul Edmondson
Troilus and Cressida	269	(4)
All's Well That Ends Well	273	(4)
Further reading	277	(2)
Reading: Measure for Measure	279	(5)
Further reading	284	(2)
Non-dramatic poetry	286	(22)
Lynne Magnusson
Poetry and prestige	286	(3)
Venus and Adonis	289	(2)
The Rape of Lucrece	291	(3)
Shorter narrative poems	294	(1)
Shakespeare's sonnets	295	(3)
Further reading	298	(2)
Reading: Shakespeare's sonnets	300	(6)
Structures and their complication	300	(2)
Figures	302	(2)
Speech acts	304	(2)
Further reading	306	(2)
Unfamiliar Shakespeare	308	(13)
Alan Armstrong
Changing tastes	308	(3)
Authorship	311	(4)
Rediscovering Shakespeare	315	(3)
Further reading	318	(3)
Part III Shakespeare criticism	321	(248)
The critical tradition	323	(10)
Michael Taylor
Further reading	332	(1)
Humanist interpretations	333	(18)
Michael D. Bristol
What is `humanism'?	333	(1)
Taking things literally	334	(1)
Folk psychology	335	(2)
The role of the emotions	337	(2)
The centrality of ethics	339	(2)
Profound relationships	341	(1)
Further reading	342	(2)
Reading: King Lear	344	(5)
Further reading	349	(2)
Character criticism	351	(22)
Christy Desmet
Introduction: the rise and fall of Shakespearian character criticism	351	(1)
Shakespeare as author and the origins of character criticism	351	(2)
Shakespeare and the psychology of human nature	353	(1)
Romantic bardolatry and Shakespearian readers	354	(2)
Heroic Shakespeare	356	(2)
Feminism and reading character from the margins	358	(1)
Playwrights, actors, and the persistence of character criticism	359	(1)
Conclusion: the motives of Shakespearian character criticism	360	(1)
Further reading	360	(3)
Reading: Hamlet	363	(6)
Introduction	363	(1)
Identifying (with) Hamlet	363	(1)
The psychology of Hamlet and Hamlet	364	(2)
The woman in Hamlet and the women in Hamlet	366	(2)
Characterizing Hamlet and Hamlet	368	(1)
Further reading	369	(4)
Source study	373	(18)
Leah Scragg
Amplification	373	(2)
Revising expectations	375	(2)
Self-borrowing	377	(2)
Dramatic conventions: revenge	379	(1)
Literary conventions: pastoral	380	(2)
Uses of source study	382	(1)
Further reading	383	(1)
Reading: As You Like It	384	(5)
Further reading	389	(2)
Close reading	391	(20)
Inga-Stina Ewbank
Reading texts in context	392	(1)
Theatrical contexts	393	(3)
Shakespeare's ways with words	396	(2)
Shakespeare's ways with rhetoric	398	(1)
Wordplay	399	(1)
Imagery	400	(1)
Further reading	401	(2)
Reading: Richard III	403	(6)
Text and history	403	(1)
Textual history	404	(1)
Theatricality	405	(1)
Patterns of language and structure	406	(3)
Further reading	409	(2)
Feminist criticism	411	(20)
Jean E. Howard
What is feminist criticism?	411	(6)
Feminist approaches to The Taming of the Shrew	417	(1)
The history of feminist criticism of Shakespeare	418	(3)
Further reading	421	(3)
Reading: Othello	424	(5)
Further reading	429	(2)
Studies in sexuality	431	(20)
Bruce R. Smith
Passion as a starting point for criticism	432	(1)
Sexuality as a starting point for criticism	433	(8)
Interiority	433	(2)
Socialization	435	(3)
Epistemology	438	(3)
Further reading	441	(2)
Reading: The Merchant of Venice	443	(6)
Passion as a starting point for criticism	443	(2)
Interiority	445	(1)
Socialization	446	(2)
Epistemology	448	(1)
Further reading	449	(2)
Psychoanalytic criticisms	451	(21)
Lynn Enterline
Literature and the unconscious	452	(3)
Subjectivity and sexuality	455	(5)
The future of psychoanalytic criticism	460	(1)
Further reading	461	(2)
Reading: Venus and Adonis	463	(7)
Gender and desire	464	(3)
Language and desire	467	(3)
Further reading	470	(2)
Materialist criticisms	472	(20)
Jonathan Gil Harris
Introduction	472	(1)
Marxism	472	(5)
New historicism	477	(3)
Cultural materialism	480	(2)
Conclusion	482	(1)
Further reading	482	(3)
Reading: Henry IV Part One	485	(5)
Further reading	490	(2)
Post-colonial criticism	492	(16)
Jyotsna Singh
A history of post-colonial criticism	492	(1)
Representations of race	493	(2)
Colonialism and property rights	495	(1)
Narratives of discovery and trade	496	(2)
Cultural and national stereotypes	498	(1)
Conclusion	499	(1)
Further reading	499	(2)
Reading: The Tempest	501	(5)
Early post-colonial responses	501	(2)
The Tempest as an allegory of European discovery and colonization	503	(2)
Caliban's version of history	505	(1)
Further reading	506	(2)
Deconstruction	508	(17)
Kiernan Ryan
Introduction	508	(2)
Deconstruction: assumptions, aims, and methods	510	(3)
Deconstructing Shakespeare	513	(4)
Further reading	517	(1)
Reading: Romeo and Juliet	518	(6)
Further reading	524	(1)
Performance history: Shakespeare on the stage, 1660--2001	525	(25)
Patricia Tatspaugh
1660--1741	526	(1)
1741--1776	527	(2)
1776--1843	529	(1)
1843--1900	530	(2)
1900--1951	532	(3)
1951--2001	535	(2)
Further reading	537	(3)
Reading: A Midsummer Night's Dream	540	(9)
1660--1900: adaptations, spectacle, pictorial realism	540	(3)
New directions: Harley Granville Barker and Peter Brook	543	(3)
Staging issues	546	(3)
Further reading	549	(1)
Performance criticism	550	(19)
Miriam Gilbert
Further reading	558	(2)
Reading: The Taming of the Shrew	560	(6)
Further reading	566	(3)
Part IV Shakespeare's afterlife	569	(119)
Introduction	571	(11)
Terence Hawkes
Bard Trek	571	(2)
An English Shakespeare	573	(2)
An Eng. Lit. Shakespeare	575	(1)
A life after Shakespeare?	576	(4)
Further reading	580	(1)
Web links	580	(2)
Shakespeare published	582	(13)
Laurie Maguire
Publishing a quarto	582	(3)
Publishing the First Folio	585	(2)
Facts and figures	587	(1)
Short quartos	588	(1)
Editing	589	(2)
Unediting	591	(1)
What we call Shakespeare	592	(1)
Further reading	593	(2)
Shakespeare and the modern British theatre	595	(12)
Michael Billington
Journeys through space	597	(4)
Diversities of style	601	(2)
Methods of staging	603	(2)
Conclusion	605	(1)
Further reading	606	(1)
Shakespeare on film and video	607	(13)
Tony Howard
Silent Shakespeare	607	(1)
The coming of sound	608	(1)
Defining possibilities: Olivier and Welles	609	(1)
Contemporizing Shakespeare	610	(1)
Foreign-language Shakespeare	611	(1)
Deviant Shakespeares	611	(1)
Populism versus iconoclasm	612	(2)
Shakespeare on television	614	(1)
Shakespeare on video	614	(1)
Comparing comedy on film: A Midsummer Night's Dream	615	(1)
Comparing tragedy on film and video: Macbeth	616	(2)
Further reading	618	(2)
The question of authorship	620	(13)
David Kathman
How we know that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare	620	(4)
The antiStratfordians---and where they go wrong	624	(1)
Alternative `Shakespeares'	625	(2)
How we know what Shakespeare wrote	627	(2)
The shifting boundaries of Shakespeare today	629	(2)
Summing up	631	(1)
Further reading	631	(1)
Web links	632	(1)
Shakespeare's influence	633	(12)
John Gross
Degrees of influence	633	(1)
Plays and playwrights in English	634	(2)
Plays and playwrights in the wider world	636	(2)
Poems and poets	638	(1)
Novels and novelists	639	(2)
Shakespeare and music	641	(1)
Shakespeare and the visual arts	642	(1)
Further reading	643	(2)
Shakespeare and translation	645	(13)
Ton Hoenselaars
`One hears a thousand things through other tongues'	645	(1)
Kinds of translation	646	(1)
Early translations of Shakespeare	647	(1)
Second-hand translation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries	648	(1)
Translation for equivalence	649	(1)
Living language	650	(1)
Translating language varieties	651	(1)
Political translation/tradaptation/adaptation	652	(2)
Translation: a creative act	654	(2)
Conclusion	656	(1)
Further reading	656	(2)
Commemorating Shakespeare	658	(15)
Georgianna Ziegler
Great Britain	659	(4)
Stratford-upon-Avon	659	(2)
Birmingham	661	(1)
London	662	(1)
Germany	663	(1)
Weimar	663	(1)
Munich	663	(1)
Neuss	664	(1)
Japan	664	(1)
Tokyo	664	(1)
Canada	665	(1)
Stratford, Ontario	665	(1)
Victoria, British Columbia	665	(1)
Australia	666	(1)
Perth	666	(1)
New Zealand	666	(1)
Stratford	666	(1)
United States	666	(4)
Washington, D.C.	667	(1)
Ashland, Oregon	667	(1)
Odessa, Texas	668	(1)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	668	(1)
San Diego, California	669	(1)
Staunton, Virginia	669	(1)
Further reading	670	(1)
Supplementary reading list	670	(1)
Web links	671	(2)
Internet and CD ROM resources	673	(15)
Michael Best
Nets and snares	674	(3)
Reader beware	675	(1)
Checking on the credibility of a site	676	(1)
Searching for information on the Web	677	(2)
Sites that list other sites	677	(1)
Search engines	677	(2)
What the Web does well	679	(2)
Textual resources	679	(1)
Historical resources	680	(1)
Performance	681	(1)
Sites available by subscription	681	(2)
CD ROMs	683	(1)
What's next?	683	(1)
Further reading	684	(1)
Sites and references	685	(3)
Search engines (selected)	686	(1)
Metasites (selected)	686	(2)
Chronology	688	(5)
Index	693