Overview

Shakespeare: The Basics is a lively and accessible introduction to reading and studying Shakespeare. Exploring all aspects of Shakespeare’s plays, Sean McEvoy considers the language, cultural contexts and modern interpretations. This essential guide to a range of contemporary Shakespearean criticism explores and unpacks the different dramatic genres in which he wrote – comedy, history, tragedy and romance. It also provides a wealth of relevant and concise information on the historical, social and political contexts in which the plays were produced and have been understood. Extensively updated throughout, the fourth edition provides: A comprehensive account of Shakespearean tragedy for students An introduction to ecocritical, ethical and queer readings of the plays Analysis of notable recent Shakespeare films and productions Enhanced contextual material on race and empire, gender roles and the theatre in politics With fully updated further reading throughout and a wide range of case studies and examples, Shakespeare: The Basics is an indispensable introduction for college and university students of literature and theatre, but also for anyone with an interest in the world’s most influential dramatist.

Full Product Details

Author:   Sean McEvoy (Varndean College, UK)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Edition:   4th edition
Weight:   0.680kg
ISBN:  

9781032449807

ISBN 10:   1032449802
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   31 October 2024
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Primary & secondary/elementary & high school ,  College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Educational: Primary & Secondary
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: William Shakespeare 1564-2024 Shakespeare’s Life: An Outline Shakespeare’s Afterlife Shakespeare Goes to College Shakespeare 2025 How to Use this Book PART I Chapter 1. Shakespeare’s Language Writing for a Theatre Audience Box 1: Shakespeare’s Audiences Simple or Complex, The Language is Dramatic Verse and Prose Box 2: Playtexts in Shakespeare’s Time Rhetorical Figures and Tropes Box 3: Some Rhetorical Figures and Tropes Rhetorical and Dramatic Action Box 4: Social Hierarchy in Shakespeare’s England Chapter 2. Shakespeare’s Theatre The Open Air Playhouse Indoor Playhouses Acting Style Box 5: Males Playing Women Representation on the Early Modern Stage Box 6: Theatre’s Enemies Dramatic Forms and Metatheatre Chapter 3. Shakespeare on the Modern Stage Paul Robeson’s 1930 Othello Othello at the National Theatre 2022 Box 7: Shakespeare, Race and Empire Cheek by Jowl’s 1991 As You Like It A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre 2019 Chapter 4. The Shakespeare Film Filming Shakespeare Tragedy on Screen in 2018 and 2021: King Lear and The Tragedy of Macbeth Globalized American Shakespeare at the Millennium: Ten Things I Hate About You (1999) and O (2001) PART II Chapter 5. Comedy: The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and Twelfth Night Men, Women and Marriage in The Taming of the Shrew Box 8: Women and Marriage in Shakespeare’s England Language and Power in Measure for Measure Language and the Outsider in The Merchant of Venice Humans and Nature in As You Like It Ambiguity, Language and Desire in Twelfth Night Chapter 6. The History Plays: Richard II, Henry IV Part 1 and Henry V Feudalism in Historical Perspective: Richard II Box 9: Christianity in Shakespeare’s England Language, Meaning and Historical Change in Richard II Power and Performance in Henry V and Henry IV Part One Box 10: Shakespeare’s Theatre and Political Freedom of Expression The Subversive Subplot: Henry V and Henry IV Part One Women and Masculinity in the History Plays Chapter 7. Tragedy: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet Tragedy and Historical Conflict Box 11: London Hamlet and Tragic Division Tragic Kingship in Macbeth Past, Present and Future in Othello Unmasking Power in King Lear Tragedy and Love in Romeo and Juliet Chapter 8. The Romance Plays: The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest Female Authority in The Winter’s Tale Contesting the Female: Miranda in The Tempest Wonder and Artifice in The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale Freedom in The Tempest Romance and Time Chronology Glossary Index

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Author Information

Sean McEvoy is a Fellow of Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, UK. His publications include Tragedy: The Basics (2016), Ben Jonson, Renaissance Dramatist (2008) and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: A Sourcebook (2006).

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