Reading Shakespeare Historically

Rereading Rennaisance drama in its historical and cultural context, renowned Renaissance scholar Lisa Jardine raises intriguing questions about how the culture and history of the past illuminates key social and political issues of today. From how the rhetorical rules for letter-writing outline the misuse and breakdown of communication inKing Lear, and how competing loyalties of companionate marriage and male friendship intensify the gender conflicts in Middleton'sThe Changling. "A splendid collection of essays by one of the most distinguished and original scholars on both sides of the Atlantic." --Natalie Zemon Davis, Princeton University "Lisa Jardine is an exhilarating guide to the critical controversies and new perspectives that have recently transformed our understanding of Shakespeare." --Stephen Greenblatt, UC-Berkeley

Acknowledgements

viii

Introduction

1

(18)

1 `WHY SHOULD HE CALL HER WHORE?': Defamation and Desdemona's case

19

(16)

2 `NO OFFENCE I'TH' WORLD': Unlawful marriage in Hamlet

35

(13)

3 CULTURAL CONFUSION AND SHAKESPEARE'S LEARNED HEROINES: `These are old paradoxes'

48

(17)

4 TWINS AND TRAVESTIES: Gender, dependency and sexual availability in Twelfth Night

65

(13)

5 READING AND THE TECHNOLOGY OF TEXTUAL AFFECT: Erasmus's familiar letters and Shakespeare's King Lear

78

(20)

6 ALIEN INTELLIGENCE: Mercantile exchange and knowledge transactions in Marlowe's The Jew of Malta

98

(16)

7 COMPANIONATE MARRIAGE VERSUS MALE FRIENDSHIP: Anxiety for the lineal family in Jacobean drama

114

(18)

8 UNPICKING THE TAPESTRY: The scholar of women's history as Penelope among her suitors

132

(16)

9 CONCLUSION: What happens in Hamlet?

148

(10)

Notes

158

(43)

Index

201

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Reading Shakespeare Historically

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials