Who Was William Shakespeare? An Introduction to the Life and Works

A new study of Shakespeare?s life and times, which illuminates our understanding and appreciation of his works.

• Combines an accessible fully historicised treatment of both the life and the plays, suited to both undergraduate and popular audiences
• Looks at 24 of the most significant plays and the sonnets through the lens of various aspects of Shakespeare?s life and historical environment
• Addresses four of the most significant issues that shaped Shakespeare?s career:  education, religion, social status, and theatre
• Examines theatre as an institution and the literary environment of early modern London
• Explains and dispatches conspiracy theories about authorship

Note on the Text ix

Acknowledgments xi

Part I The Life 1

1 Who was William Shakespeare? 3

2 Writing 23

3 Religion 47

4 Status 61

5 Theatre 79

Part II The Plays 97

6 Comedies: Shakespeare’s Social Life 99

The Comedy of Errors 99

The Taming of the Shrew 108

Love’s Labour’s Lost 119

A Midsummer Night’s Dream 125

The Merchant of Venice 132

Much Ado About Nothing 138

As You Like It 146

Twelfth Night, Or What You Will 153

Measure for Measure 159

7 English and Roman Histories: Shakespeare’s Politics 177

Richard II 177

1 Henry IV 182

Henry V 192

Richard III 198

Julius Caesar 204

Coriolanus 210

8 Tragedies: Shakespeare in Love and Loss 223

Romeo and Juliet 223

Hamlet 232

Othello 241

King Lear 252

Macbeth 260

Antony and Cleopatra 266

9 Romances: Shakespeare and Theatrical Magic 277

The Winter’s Tale 277

The Tempest 284

Index 295

DYMPNA CALLAGHAN is William L. Sa???re Professor of Modern Letters at Syracuse University and President of the Shakespeare Association of America, 2012–13. She is the editor of the Arden Shakespeare Language and Writing Series and coeditor, with Michael Dobson, of the Palgrave Shakespeare Studies series. Her publications include Shakespeare Without Women (2000), The Taming of the Shrew: A Norton Critical Edition (2009), Shakespeare's Sonnets (2007), The Impact of Feminism in English Renaissance Culture (2006), and Romeo and Juliet: Texts and Contexts (2003).