Title: Inscribing the time
First published: 1995
Description: Combining the resources of new historicism, feminism, and postmodern textual analysis, Eric Mallin reveals how contemporary pressures left their marks on three Shakespeare plays written at the end of Elizabeth's reign. Close attention to the language of Troilus and Cressida, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night reveals how Shakespeare registered the consciousness of transition and ending that underlay England's social fabric at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

The plays further register in complex ways the cultural presence of social or psychic crises. Troilus reflects the rebellion of the Earl of Essex and the failure of the courtly, chivalric style. Hamlet resonates with the danger of the bubonic plague and the difficult succession history of James I. Twelfth Night is imbued with nostalgia for an earlier period of Elizabeth's rule, when her control over religious and erotic affairs seemed more secure.
Subjects: Dramatists, English, English Dramatists, Historicism in literature, History, Homes and haunts, Intellectual life, Literature and history, Languages & Literatures, Homes, Littérature et histoire, Critique et interprétation, English Literature, Literatur, Drama, Zeithintergrund, Historicisme dans la littérature, English, Twelfth Night, or, What you will (Shakespeare), Contemporary England, Historisme, Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare), Histoire, Hamlet, prince of Denmarke (Shakespeare), Geschichtsbewusstsein, Shakespeare, william, 1564-1616, contemporary england, Great britain, history, elizabeth, 1558-1603
Places: England, Great Britain
People: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Time periods: 16th century, Elizabeth, 1558-1603
LC classification: PR2910 .M32 1995