Shakespeare
Subtitle: Poet and Citizen
Publisher: Zed Books, Limited
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 261
ISBN-13: 9781783606733
Subjects: Shakespeare, william, 1564-1616, political and social views; Politics and literature; Literature and society; Political poetry, history and criticism; Political plays, history and criticism; Social problems in literature
Description: "Although Shakespeare is rightly celebrated for the continued relevancy of his plays and poetry today, we too often lose sight of the wider historical context which shaped his work. In Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen, Victor Kiernan shows that Shakespeare was profoundly sensitive to the great social and political upheavals of his age. Shakespeare's life coincided with the first challenges to the institution of monarchy, as well as far-reaching transformations in the social hierarchy. By placing the plays within this context of an emerging modernity, Kiernan upends our perception of Shakespeare's writings. He shows that these social transformations, and especially the changing roles of women, are crucial to our understanding of the Comedies, in which the confusion of identity, disguise, and cross-dressing play a central role, while the Histories similarly reflect the demise of feudal allegiances and the development of the modern state."--