EN 3225: Shakespeare in Performance: Historical and Cultural Context

Entries provide the likely sources for a name; describe historical and mythological backgrounds; examine Shakespeare's presentation of a character or place; and suggest various interpretations of a name. Each entry contains line citations to William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, edited by Wells and Taylor, Oxford University Press, 1986.

Stephen Greenblatt, the charismatic Harvard professor who "knows more about Shakespeare than Ben Jonson or the Dark Lady did" (John Leonard, Harper's), has written a biography that enables us to see, hear, and feel how an acutely sensitive and talented boy, surrounded by the rich tapestry of Elizabethan life; full of drama and pageantry, and also cruelty and danger; could have become the world's greatest playwright. Will in the World interweaves a searching account of Elizabethan England with a vivid narrative of the playwright's life. We see Shakespeare learning his craft, starting a family, and forging a career for himself in the wildly competitive London theater world, while at the same time grappling with dangerous religious and political forces that took less-agile figures to the scaffold. Above all, we never lose sight of the great works--A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and more--that continue after four hundred years to delight and haunt audiences everywhere. The basic biographical facts of Shakespeare's life have been known for over a century, but now Stephen Greenblatt shows how this particular life history gave rise to the world's greatest writer.

What accounts for Shakespeare's transformation from talented poet and playwright to one of the greatest writers who ever lived? In this gripping account, James Shapiro sets out to answer this question, "succeed[ing] where others have fallen short." (Boston Globe) 1599 was an epochal year for Shakespeare and England. During that year, Shakespeare wrote four of his most famous plays: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and, most remarkably, Hamlet; Elizabethans sent off an army to crush an Irish rebellion, weathered an Armada threat from Spain, gambled on a fledgling East India Company, and waited to see who would succeed their aging and childless queen. James Shapiro illuminates both Shakespeare's staggering achievement and what Elizabethans experienced in the course of 1599, bringing together the news and the intrigue of the times with a wonderful evocation of how Shakespeare worked as an actor, businessman, and playwright. The result is an exceptionally immediate and gripping account of an inspiring moment in history.

Preeminent Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro shows how the tumultuous events in England in 1606 affected Shakespeare and shaped the three great tragedies he wrote that year--King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. The Year of Lear sheds light on these three great tragedies by placing them in the context of their times, while also allowing us greater insight into how Shakespeare was personally touched by such events as a terrible outbreak of plague and growing religious divisions.

Students, teachers, and interested readers will find in this resource a vivid and intimate account of life in the Elizabethan age. The first book on Elizabethan England to rise out of the living history movement, it combines a unique hands-on approach with the best of current research. Organized for easy reference, it is enlivened with how-to sections_recipes, clothing patterns, songs and games, all gathered from original sources. This hands-on approach recreates the daily life of ordinary people, not just the aristocracy, and systematically covers the most basic facts of life in a readily accessible format. Clearly illustrated with 94 drawings, patterns, and diagrams, it provides a treasure trove of information for classroom and library use and for those interested in recreating Elizabethan life. The work is organized into sections on the structure of Elizabethan society, the course of life (birth, childhood, education, marriage, old age, and death), the cycles of time (daily, weekly, and yearly schedules, including a calendar of the Elizabethan year), the living environment (houses, villages, towns, and travel), clothing (including instruction for making complete Elizabethan male and female outfits), food (featuring a selection of recipes), and entertainment (songs with sheet music and instruction for authentic games and dances). A chronology of Tudor England, a glossary, appendices with information and ideas on organizing Elizabethan feasts and fairs, and lists of suggested readings, videos, and recordings complete the work. This is an indispensable resource for classrooms and school and public libraries because it gives readers a true understanding of what it would be like to live in 16th-century England.

David Dean's book offers the first detailed account of the last Elizabethan parliaments. Examining a wide range of social and economic issues, law reform, religious and political concerns, Law-Making and Society in Late Elizabethan England addresses the importance of parliament both as a political event and as a legislative institution. David Dean draws on an array of local, corporate and personal archives to reinterpret the legislative history of the period and in doing so, reach a deeper understanding of many aspects of Elizabethan history.