How Shakespeare Put Politics on the Stage: Power and Succession in the History Plays (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780300222715)

A masterful, highly engaging analysis of how Shakespeare's plays intersected with the politics and culture of Elizabethan England

With an ageing, childless monarch, lingering divisions due to the Reformation, and the threat of foreign enemies, Shakespeare's England was fraught with unparalleled anxiety and complicated problems. In this monumental work, Peter Lake reveals, more than any previous critic, the extent to which Shakespeare's plays speak to the depth and sophistication of Elizabethan political culture and the Elizabethan imagination. Lake reveals the complex ways in which Shakespeare's major plays engaged with the events of his day, particularly regarding the uncertain royal succession, theological and doctrinal debates, and virtue and virt in politics. Through his plays, Lake demonstrates, Shakespeare was boldly in conversation with his audience about a range of contemporary issues. This remarkable literary and historical analysis pulls the curtain back on what Shakespeare was really telling his audience and what his plays tell us today about the times in which they were written.

Author: Peter Lake
ISBN-10: 0300222718
ISBN-13: 9780300222715
Publisher: Yale University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/24/2017
Pages: 688
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.65lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.60w x 2.20d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2017