Here is a sample annotated bibliography on Shakespeare's works (format did not always load up correctly.  Only first line should be indented; all should be double spaced.  For annotations on individual plays, see the main page for that page.

Shakespeare in general

*Anderegg, Michael. Orson Welles: Shakespeare and Popular Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.

Andrews, John G., ed. William Shakespeare: His World, His Work, His Influence. New York: Scribner, 1985.
This multivolume text includes analysis by many modern scholars.

**Babcock, Weston. Hamlet: A Tragedy of Errors. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, .

*Barber, C.L. "The Saturnalian Pattern." Approaches to Shakespeare. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964. 230-263.

Barber, C.L. Shakespeare’s Festive Comedy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959.

                    This major work discusses the form and significance of the comedies.

                    Barish, Jonas A. "Shakespeare’s Prose." Approaches. 245-289.

Barnet, Sylvan. "Some Limitations of a Christian Approach to Shakespeare." Approaches. 217-229.

                    Bate, Jonathan. The Genius of Shakespeare. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

An excellent recent work on Shakespeare’s biography information, his life, his career, the nature of this genius.

Battenhouse, Roy W. "Shakespearean Tragedy: A Christian Approach." Approaches. 203-216.

Beckerman, Bernard. Shakespeare at the Globe. New York: Macmillan, 1962.

Beckerman talks about the theatrical aspects of Shakespeare’s plays. He also discusses the structure of the plays.

*Bethell, S.L. "Planes of Realilty." Modern Shakesperean Criticism: Essays on Style, Dramaturgy, and the Major Plays. Ed. By Alvin B. Kernan. San Francisco: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1970. 13-22.

*Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead, 1998.

*Bloom, Harold. The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. New York, Riverhead, 1994.

Bloom puts Shakespeare at the center of the Western canon and compares the other authors he chooses to Shakespeare.

Bradley, A.C. "The Substance of Shakesperean Tragedy." Approaches. 1-19.

Briggs, Julia. This Stage-Play World: English Literature and its Background, 1580-1625. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Briggs discusses the intellectual background and social situation of this time period.

Brooks, Cleanth. "The Naked Babe and the Cloak of Madness." Approaches. 66-89.

Brown, John Russell. "Verbal Drama." Modern. 95-109.

Calderwood, James. Shakespeare and the Denial of Death. Amherst, Massachussetts: University of Massachusetts Press, 1987.

Calderwood has two chapters of interest on Hamlet, one on mortal clothing in Hamlet and one on tragedy and the denial of death about fathers in Hamlet. ***

Topics covered: Hamlet, metaphors

**Calderwood, James L. To Be and Not To Be: Negation and Metadrama in Hamlet. New York: Columbia University Press, 1983.

*Campbell, Lily B. "English History in the Sixteenth Century." Shakespeare: The Histories. Ed. By Eugene M. Waith. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1965. 13-31.

*Cavell, Stanley. Disowning Knowledge in Six Plays of Shakespeare. Cambridge, state: Cambridge University Play, 1987.

Cavell is a philosopher who specializes in aesthetics. The best analysis is that of King Lear. This includes analysis also of Othello, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest.

*Charlton, H.B. "Humanism and Mystery." Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Ed. By Alfred Harbage. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1964. 10-17.

*Charney, Maurice. All of Shakespeare. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

Clemen, Wolfgang. "The Development of Shakespeare’s Imagery: Introduction." Modern. 23-29.

Coghill, Nevill. "The Basis of Shakespearean Comedy." Essays and Studies 3 (1950): 1-28.

Best analysis is of Merchant of Venice.

**Cohen, Michael. Hamlet in My Mind’s Eye. Athens, GE: University of Georgia Press, 1989.

Cook, Ann Jennalie. Making a Match: Courtship in Shakespeare and His Society. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.

*Council, Norman. When Honour’s at the Stake. New York: Barnes and Nobel, 1973.

Crane, R.S. "Monistic Criticism and the Structure of Shakesperean Drama." Approaches. 99-120.

Dean, Leonard F., ed. Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972.

**Desmet, Christy. Reading Shakespeare’s Characters: Rhetoric, Ethics, and Identify. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992.

Dobson, Michael, and Stanley Wells, eds. The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Dollimore, Jonathan. Radical Tragedy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.

Includes a good essay on King Lear.

Dollimore, Jonathan, and Alan Sinfield, eds. Political Shakespeare: New Essays in Cultural Materialism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985.

These essays were written by new historians or "cultural materialists" and are as limited in their understanding as those schools of criticism.

Downer, Alan S. "The Life of Our Design: The Function of Imagery in the Poetic Drama." Modern. 30-44.

                    Drakakis, John, ed. Alternative Shakespeares. London: Methuen, 1985.

This includes essays by noted feminists, Marxists, deconstructionists, and thus is limited by those schools of criticism.

*Dreher, Diane Elizabeth. Domination and Defiance: Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare. Lexington, KN: University of Kentucky Press, 1986.

Dusinberre, Juliet. Shakespeare and the Nature of Women. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1975.

[This is the best book on women in Shakespeare to date.] Dusinberre deals most fully with the comedies, but also discusses the women in the other plays. She discusses the importance of the disguise and how it allows the females to act in more masculine ways, exploring their androgynous selves. But she also discusses the society and its restrictions on the women, and the conventions of the stage which necessitated that young boys play the female roles. ****

Topics covered: female characters, comedy, disguise

**Edwards, Philip. Shakespeare and the Confines of Art. London: Methuen, 1968.

Ellis-Fermor, Una. "The Nature of Plot in Drama." Modern. 77-92.

Felperin, Howard. "O’erdoing Termagant: Hamlet." Shakespearean Representation: Mimesis and Modernity in Elizabethan Tragedy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Press, 1977. 44-67.

Foakes, R.A. "The Profession of Playwright." Modern. 141-166.

Frye, Northrop. "The Argument of Comedy." Modern. 165-173.

Frye, Northrop. Northrop Frye on Shakespeare. Ed. By Robert Sandler. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.

*Frye, Northrop. A Natural Perspective: The Development of Shakespearean Comedy and Romance. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1965.

Gardner, Helen. "A Reply to Cleanth Brooks." Approaches. 90-98.

*Gay, Penny. As She Likes It: Shakespeare’s Unruly Women. New York: Routledge, 1994.

*Goddard, Harold C. The Meaning of Shakespeare. Vol. 1. Chicago: Phoenix Books. 1970.

The chapter on Hamlet discusses the play-within-a-play, the Christian view, revenge, Hamlet as ultimate Shakespearean hero, anti-Freudian views, the ghost, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Ophelia, the players, the Mousetrap scene, Prayer scene, Ophelia’s death, the duel scene. ***

Topics covered: acting, Ophelia, Hamlet as character, specific scenes

Goldman, Michael. Shakespeare and the Energies of Drama. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Presss, 1972.

Good essays on Hamlet, Henry V, and King Lear.

*Goldsmith, Robert H. Wise Fools in Shakespeare. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1955.

*Greer, Germaine. Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Grudin, Robert. Mighty Opposites. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1979.

Gurr, Andrew. The Shakespearean stage, 1574-1642. 3rd edition. Cambridge,England: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

**Habib, Imtiaz. Shakespeare’s Pluralistic Concept of Character: A Study in Dramatic Anamorphism. Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1993.

*Harbage, Alfred, ed. Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1964.

Hawkins, Sherman. "The Two Worlds of Shakespearean Comedy." Shakespeare Studies 3 (1968): 62-80.

Talks about the structure of the comedies.

*Holland, Norman N. Psychoanalysis and Shakespeare. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966.

* Holland, Norman N. The Shakespearean Imagination: A Critical Introduction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1964.

[This is by far the best book on Shakespeare’s work published to date.] Holland includes chapters on the theater of Shakespeare and on the following plays: MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, part 1, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello, Measure for Measure, King Lear, Anthony and Cleopatra, Winter’s Tale, The Tempest. The chapter on Hamlet is one of the best works on that play so far. Holland discusses Hamlet’s delay, the ghost, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, parallels, Horatio and Fortinbras, the Players, Ophelia, Polonius, Gertrude, disease, food, nunnery speech, Pyrrhus speech, nationalities, revenge. ****

Topics covered: characters, themes, acting, foiling

*Holland, Norman N., Sidney Homan, and Bernard J. Paris. Shakespeare’s Personality. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1989.

Hunter, Robert G. Shakespeare and the Comedy of Forgiveness. New York: Columbia University Press, 1965.

He talks about sin and repentance in the comedies.

Hunter, Robert G. Shakespeare and the Mystery of God’s Judgments. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1965.

He deals with free will and damnation in Richard III, Hamlet, Othello, MacBeth.

Jackson, Russell. Shakespeare on Film. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Johanyak, D.L. Shakespeare’s World. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2004.

Kahn, Coppelia. Man’s Estate: Masculine Identity in Shakespeare. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1981.

Psychological interpretation of masculinity in the plays.

Kermode, Frank. The Age of Shakespeare. New York: Modern Library, 2004.

Kermode, Frank. Shakespeare’s Language. New York: Penguin, 2000.

Kernan, Alvin. Shakespeare: the King’s Playwright. New Haven, state: Yale University Press, 1995.

Kernan, Alvin B., ed. Modern Shakesperean Criticism. San Francisco: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1970.

Kirsch, Arthur. The Passions of Shakepeare’s Tragic Heroes. Charlottesville: Univeristy Press of Virginia, 1990.

Knight, G. Wilson. "On the Principles of Shakespearean Interpretation." Modern. 3-12. also in Approaches. 30-46.

Knights, L.C. "How Many Children Had Lady MacBeth?" Modern. 45-76.

Knights, L.C. "The Question of Character in Shakespeare." Approaches. 47-65.

*Leggatt, Alexander. Shakespeare’s Comedy of Love. London: Methuen, 1974.

Deals with social behavior as well as love.

Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.

Includes part of King Lear in Our Time and also his classic "The World of Hamlet."

**Mack, Maynard. Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.

*Maguire, Laurie E. Studying Shakespeare: A Guide to the Plays. Oxford, England: Blackwood, 2004.

McDonald, Russ. The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare. New York: Bedford, 2001.

McElroy, Bernard. Shakespeare’s Mature Tragedies. Princeton, state: Princeton University Press, 1973.

Muir, Kenneth, and Sean O’Loughlin. The Voyage to Illyria. New York: Barnes and Nobel, 1937, rtp. 1970.

Neill, Michael. Issues of Death: Mortality and Identity in English Renaissance Tragedy. Oxford, England: The Clarendon Press, 1997.

Ornstein, Robert. "Historical Criticism and the Interpretation of Shakespeare." Approaches. 172-181.

Ornstein, Robert. A Kingdom for a State: The Achievement of Shakespeare’s History Plays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.

This deals with the ethical issues raised by the history plays.

Palmer, D.J. "The Early Comedies." Shakespeare: A Bibliographical Guide. Ed. By Stanley Wells. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. 83-107.

*Phialas, Peter G. Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedies: The Development of Their Form and Meaning. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1966.

*Rabkin, Norman, ed. Approaches to Shakespeare. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.

Rabkin has gathered together the major approaches, critical interpretations to Shakespeare.

Reese, M.M. "Origins of the History Play." Shakespeare Histories. 42-54.

*Rogers-Gardner, Barbara. Jung and Shakespeare. Wilmette, IL: Chiron, 1992.

*Ryan, Kiernan, ed. Shakespeare: Texts and Contexts. New York: St. Martin’s, 2000.

Saccio, Peter. Shakespeare: The Word and the Action, Part I and Part II. The Great Courses. The Teaching Company, 1998.

*Sacks, Claire, and Edgar Whan, eds. Hamlet: Enter Critic. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1960.

Sanders, Norman. "Shakespeare’s Text." Bibliographical. 17-36.

Sandler, Robert, ed. Northrup Frye on Shakespeare. New Haven, NY: Yale University Press, 1986.

Scragg, Leah. Discovering Shakespeare’s Meaning. New York: Longman, 1994.

Smallwood, R.L. "The Middle Comedies." Bibliographical. 107-136.

*Smith, Hallett. Shakespeare’s Romances. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 1972.

Taylor, Michael. "The Late Comedies." Bibliographical. 159-180.

Tillyard, E.M.W. "The Cosmic Background." Approaches. 140-159.

Tillyard, E.M.W. "The Elizabeth World Order." Shakespeare Histories. 32-31.

*Tillyard, E.M.W. Shakespeare’s Problem Plays. London, England: University of Toronto Press, 1968.

*Waith, Eugene M., ed. Shakespeare: the Histories. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1965.

*Widdicombe, Toby. Simply Shakespeare. San Francisco, Longman, 2002.

*Wells, Stanley. Shakespeare: a Bibliographical Guide. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Yeats, William Butler. "Emotion of Multitude." Modern. 93-95.

Young, David. The Action to the Word: Structure and Style in Shakespearean Tragedy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.

As You Like It

Gardner, Helen. "’As You Like It.’" Modern. 190-203.

*Jenkins, Harold. "As You Like It." Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Revised edition. Ed. By Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967. 114-133.

Hamlet

**Aguirre, Manuel. "Life, Crown, and Queen: Gertrude and the Theme of Sovereignty." The Review of English Studies 47.186 (May 1996): 163-174.

*Alexander, Peter. "The Complete Man." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. Ed. By David Bevington. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1968. 113-115.

Avers, P.K. "Reading Writing, and Hamlet." Shakespeare Quarterly.  423-439.

Beauregard, David N. Virtue’s Own Feature. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware, 1995.

*Bevington, David. "Introduction." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. Ed. by David Bevington. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1968. 1-12.

Bevington discusses Claudius as Politician, the character of Hamlet, Hamlet and Polonius as opposites, Hamlet’s delay, Horatio, pairings or "foils" between various characters, the language, and various metaphors (such as clothes). It is one of the best introductions to the overall play. ***

Topics covered: all main characters, procrastination, foiling, language/extended metaphors

Blincoe, Noel. "Is Gertrude an Adulteress?" ANQ 10.4 (Fall 1997): 18-24.

Blincoe explains both sides of the question, using the Ghost’s words to suggest Gertrude and Claudius were having an affair and also that the dumb show suggests she was not.

Bloom, Harold. Hamlet: Poem Unlimited. New York: Riverhead, 2003.

Bloom, Harold. "Introduction." Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ed. By Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. 1-10.

Bloom deals with Hamlet as the hero; Horatio, the source of the play, and introduces the other works in his anthology. He discusses the changed Hamlet at the end of the play, claims he uses "wise passivity" in waiting for Claudius to act. He also talks about Hamlet’s disinterestedness, which he calls a positive characteristic. Bloom also claims Shakespeare himself is great because he is so original; we can trace influences but not his genius back to precursors. Horatio is our surrogate in the play. *

Topics covered: Hamlet, Horatio

Booth, Stephen. "On the Value of Hamlet." Reinterpretations of Elizabethan Drama. Ed. By Norman Rabkin. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969. 137-76.

Bowers, Fredson. Hamlet as Minister and Scourge and Other Studies in Shakespeare and Milton. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1989.

[This book more than any other helped me to understand Hamlet.] Bowers explains the difference between a minister—an agent of God—and a scourge—someone so evil he is already condemned to Hell, and suggests that Hamlet wants to be a public minister, bringing evidence against Claudius to an open court, but fears he has been chosen by the ghost to "revenge [his] foul and most unnatural murder" because he is already so sinful that he is past redemption. He argues for the Closet scene as the climax of the play (rather than the Mousetrap scene) and especially the killing of Polonius, since that act alone brings Laertes back from France, and it is only Laertes’ plot of the poison on the tip of the foil that actually kills Hamlet at the end of the play. He discusses how Hamlet has changed by the end of the play. ****

Topics covered: Hamlet, scourge/minister, climax of play, Laertes

**Burnett, MarkThornton. "Ophelia’s ‘False Steward’ Contetualized." The Review of English Studies 46.181 (February 1995): 48-56.

Bradley, A. C. "Shakespeare's Tragic Period." Twentieth Hamlet. 13-21.

This is an older article. Bradley discusses Horatio’s role, and Hamlet as philosopher/ student/thinker. *

Topics covered: Hamlet, Horatio

Brennan, Anthony. Onstage and Offstage Worlds in Shakespeare’s Plays. New York: Routledge, 1989.

Briggs, Murray. "’He’s Going to his Mother’s Closet’: Hamlet and Gertrude on Screen." Shakespeare Survey 45 (Annual 1993): 53-62.

Briggs includes reference to Zefferelli, Olivier, the BBC version with Derek Jacobi, and the Nicol Williamson versions. **

Topics covered: Gertrude, Hamlet, Ghost

Calderwood, James L. To Be and Not to Be: Negation and Metadrama in Hamlet. New York: Columbia, 1983.

Calderwood, James. Shakespeare and the Denial of Death. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1987.

Calderwood has two chapters of interest on Hamlet, one on mortal clothing in Hamlet and one on tragedy and the denial of death about fathers in Hamlet. ***

Topics covered: Hamlet, metaphors

*Cantor, Paul A. Shakespeare: Hamlet. New York: Cambridge, 1989.

Cantor attempts to find Hamlet’s place within the Renaissance, within the tragedy tradition, in Shakespeare’s career, within Christianity, as hero, as drama, as poetry, in the 20th Century. ***

Topics covered: Hamlet, metaphors

Carson, Ricks. "Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet.’" The Explicator 50.4 (Summer 1992): 198-99.

Carson’s short article relates to staging. *

Topics covered: staging

Charney, Maurice. All of Shakespeare. New York: Columbia, 1993.

Charney, Maurice. Style in Hamlet. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 1969.

This article discusses language style in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. *

Topics covered: language

Clemens, W.H. "The Imagery in Hamlet." Modern Essays. 227-241.

Cohen, Michael. Hamlet in My Mind's Eye. Athens, GE: University of Gerogia, 1989.

Clemen, Wolfgang. Shakespeare’s Soliloquies. Translated by Charity Scott Stokes. New York: Routledge, 1987.

Clemen discusses why there are so many soliloquies in Hamlet and analyzes several of them. **

Topics covered: Hamlet, soliloquies

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. "The Character of Hamlet." Enter Critic.  40-43.

*Council, Norman. When Honour’s at the Stake: Ideas of Honour in Shakespeare’s Plays. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1973.

Cox, Lee Sheridan. Figurative Design in Hamlet: The Significance of the Dumb Show. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University, 1973.

Danson, Lawrence. "Tragic Alphabet." Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Ed. by Harold Bloom. New York, Chelsea House, 1986. 65-86.

Danson claims verbal conflict reflects difficulties in the realm of action. From the beginning guards had a hard time communicating with the Ghost and thus need Horatio. He says language, like old rituals, old views of honor, have become corrupt and rotten in Denmark. Claudius’ oxymorons try to resolve irreconcilable differences. Hamlet’s puns are like linguistic confrontations that precede physical ones. "Time is the discreditor of all purpose and action" (74). He claims change/time can dull purpose. The "To be or not to be" speech reveals eternal dilemma, does fulfill dialectic. Most important issue is uncertainly/doubt. He analyzes play-within-a-play and its power (but plays are static and doubt inhabits our world of flux). He also says player’s summary has more impact than Hamelt’s passion. *

Topics covered: language, change, art, Hamlet

Davidson, Peter. Hamlet: Text and Performance. London: Oxford U Press, 1983.

Davidson evaluates which sections of Hamlet are often omitted in performances and the reasons for these decisions. *

Topics covered: staging

Desmet, Christy. Reading Shakespeare’s Characters. Amberst, MA: University of Massachusetts, 1992.

*Dodsworth, Martin. Hamlet Closely Observed. Dover, NH: Athlone, 1985.

Edwards, Philip. Shakespeare and the Confines of Art. London: Methuen, 1968.

Eliot, T.S. "Hamlet and his Problems." Twentieth Hamlet. 22-26.

Eliot talks about the problem of the play and Hamlet’s madness. *

Topics covered: madness, Hamlet as character

Elliott, G.R. "Scourge and Minister." Enter Critic. 58-64.

Evans, Robert C. "Friendship in Hamlet."

Felperin, Howard. "O’redoing Termagant." Modern Hamlet. 99-116.

Felperin analyzes Hamlet’s advice to the players, which seems to reflect Shakespeare’s views. He discusses the purpose of playing in Hamlet in particular and Shakespeare in general. To hold a mirror up to nature refers both to showing scorn her own image (as in medieval tradition) and "the very age . . ." a realistic view (homiletic vs. mimetic modes). The play-within-a-play is supposedly about a real murder in Italy but is also symbolic/universal/allegorical. The Closet scene would seem more realistic but Hamlet speaks like a preacher, not a son. Thus Hamlet becomes a morality play. The Ghost is a character but also symbolic of older tradition telling Hamlet (or Renaissance drama) what to do. Felperin shows how archaic the revenge form itself is. He contradicts T.S. Eliot’s view that Hamlet is a flawed play by suggesting it is Hamlet the character who tries to impose the older models (revenge, morality) upon his own life but fails. He argues Shakespeare is not just part of evolutionary change in dramatic form (from archaic to modern) but consciously, creatively exploring archaism. Shakespeare does not invalidate older forms but subsumes them into his form. The changed Hamlet at the end rejects the role he was trying to play; the revenge hero is not the hero/villain. Felperin says Shakespeare resolves the paradox of convention (allegory/morality) and mimesis. **

Topics covered: art, revenge, characters, acting

Felperin, Howard. Shakespearean Represerntation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton, 1977.

**Fisch, Harold. Hamlet and the Word: The Covenant Pattern in Shakespeare. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1971.

Gardner, Helen. "Hamlet and the Tragedy of Revenge." Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Edited by Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford, 1972.

Gardner discusses Hamlet’s flaw and the nature of the revenge tradition. *

Topics covered: procrastination, revenge

Gardner, Helen. "The Historical Approach: Hamlet." Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Ed. by Alfred Harbage. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1964. also in Shakespeare Tragedies 61-70.

*Goddard, Harold. "Hamlet: His Own Falstaff." Modern Hamlet. 11-28. also found in Modern Shakesperean Criticism: Essays on Style, Dramaturgy, and the Major Plays. Ed. By Alvin B. Kernan. San Francisco: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1970.

Goddard explains some real life connections between Shakespeare’s life and the story of Hamlet (son’s name of Hamnet, death of girl named Katherine Hamlet like Ophelia’s). Hamlet is the best of Shakespeare’s characters, including the androgynous heroines, because he is the most interesting, most complex. Goddard challenges the common perception that Hamlet is right to want to kill Claudius and thus the centrality of the question of procrastination as the theme focuses on the paradox of the character of Hamlet and why this makes him great. He compares Hamlet to Fortinbras and Laertes, who are less interesting (perhaps because less ambiguous). A better way to interpret the play is to assume he should NOT kill Claudius. But we are supposed to expect him to kill on a first reading/viewing of the play. Hamlet is an obvious progression from Romeo/Hal/Brutus (all wanted to embrace joy/love/life) but fathers (or someone else) stood for hate/revenge/duty. The title of Goddard’s article comes from similarities to Hal and refers to the fact that Hamlet can play both Falstaff’s and Hal’s roles. He claims Shakespeare’s delegating the Ghost to the cellarage as evil suggests the Ghost’s admonition to revenge is misguiding Hamlet and he discusses the symbolism of the duel scene. He says that Hamlet responding by killing Polonius is instinct, not choice. And he says that clarity comes not from the actions of the play, but from its reflection upon action afterwards. He claims Hamlet is very modern in sensibility, that Hamlet’s accomplishment of his goal is really his fall at the end, reflecting the eternal struggle between imagination (art) and force (revenge). ***

Topics covered: characters, foils, art, symbolism

Goddard, Harold C. The Meaning of Shakespeare. Vol. 1. Chicago: Phoenix Books. 1970.

The chapter on Hamlet discusses the play-within-a-play, the Christian view, revenge, Hamlet as ultimate Shakespearean hero, anti-Freudian views, the ghost, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Ophelia, the players, the Mousetrap scene, Prayer scene, Ophelia’s death, the duel scene. ***

Topics covered: acting, Ophelia, Hamlet as character, specific scenes

Goldman, Michael. "Hamlet: Entering the Text." Theater Journal 44.4 (Dec 1992): 449-60.

Goldman talks about the problems of interpretation to create a unified whole. *

Topics covered: modern criticism

Granville-Barker, Harley. "Place-Structure and Time-Structure." Twentieth Hamlet. 27-31.

Greg, W.W. "A Critical Mousetrap." Enter Critic. 72-74.

Habib, Imtiaz. Shakespeare’s Pluralistic Concepts of Character. Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1993.

Hart, Jeffrey. "Hamlet’s Great Song." Smiling Through the Cultural Catastrophe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. pages?

Holland, Peter. "Hamlet and the Art of Acting." Drama and the Actor. Cambridge, England: Cambridge U Press, 1984.

Peter Holland discusses some problems with interpreting the role of Hamlet. *

Topics covered: Hamlet, acting

Holland, Norman. The Shakespearean Imagination. Bloomington, IN: Indiana, 1964.

This article is one of the best works on Hamlet so far. Holland discusses Hamlet’s delay, the ghost, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, parallels, Horatio and Fortinbras, the Players, Ophelia, Polonius, Gertrude, disease, food, nunnery speech, Pyrrhus speech, nationalities, revenge. ****

Topics covered: characters, acting, foiling

Hughes, Peter. "Playing with Grief: Hamlet and the Act of Mourning." Comparative Criticism 9 (1987): 111-33.

Hamlet’s antic disposition is examined. Hughes claims the entire play is about mourning. *

Topics covered: death, mourning, madness

James, D.G. "The New Doubt." Twentieth Hamlet. 43-46.

Jewkes, W.T. "'To Tell My Story': The Function of Framed Narrative and Drama in Hamlet." Shakespearean Tragedy. Ed. by Malcolm Bradbury and David Palmer. London: Stratford-upon-Avon Studies, 1984. 31-46.

Jones, Ernest. Hamlet and Oedipus. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1949.

Joseph, Bertram. "The Theme." Twentieth Hamlet. 93-103.

Kastan, David Scott, ed. Critical Essays on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. New York: G. K. Hall, 1995.

Includes best essays on Hamlet written since 1965.

Kendall, Gillian Murray. "Overkill in Shakespeare." Shakespeare Quarterly 43.1 (Spring 1992): 51-64.

Kendall discusses how everyone dies and the conventions of the Elizabethan stage. There is not much about Hamlet the play. *

Topics covered: staging

**Kerrigan, William. Hamlet’s Perfection. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1994.

Keyishian, Harry. The Shapes of Revenge. city, NJ: Humanities, 1995.

Knights, L. C. "An Approach to Hamlet." Twentieth Hamlet. 64-72.

**Landau, Aaron. "’Let Me not Burst in Ignorance’: Skepticism and Anxiety in Hamlet." English Studies 3(2001): 218-230.

Lanham, Richard A. "Superposed Plays." Modern Hamlet. 87-98.

Hamlet is two plays in one, the Laertes-as-revenge-tragedy-hero story and the serious play involving Hamlet. Shakespeare uses conventional dialogue for the revenge plot. Duplicity is evident as Laertes speaks of honor in the last scene while holding the poisoned sword. He claims Hamlet is Shakespeare "writing a play about the kind of play he is writing" (88). The language makes us aware of conventions. Even comments about child actors is about the overall theme of Hamlet, rightful succession. Hamlet would not have a problem "playing" his revenge (acting it out); it is the actual killing that troubles him. Shakespeare is saying we find the truth, reality, in the play. He also refers to another critic W. A. Bebbinton, who says Hamlet reads the "To be or not to be" speech from a book. Lanham claims Hamlet is always acting, presents the argument that Hamlet refrains from killing Claudius in the Prayer scene because no one is watching. Fortinbras gets the offstage introduction that Shakespeare likes to use for main characters but remains a cardboard character throughout. Military honor is a role like Laertes’ revenge duty; both roles are attractive to audiences, but Hamlet recognizes he would be playing a role and questions it as a motive for action. Lanham suggests Polonius is more central to the play than many critics think. **

Topics covered: foils, characters, art, acting, Laertes, Polonius

LeClercle, Ann. "Hamlet's Play within the Play as Palimpsest." Shakespeare Quarterly 43.1 (Spring 1992): 51-64.

LeClercle claims the play within a play is a reversal of court investure. *

Topics covered: revelance

Levin, Harry. "An Explication of the Player's Speech." Modern Critical Hamlet. 29-44

Levin analyzes the Pyrrhus speech of the player and its connection to Hamlet’s story. Levin talks about Shakespeare’s differences in style within Hamlet, asking if he is satirizing another playwright. He also asks what is the purpose of the play. The style is more like epic bombast than drama, more stylized than naturalistic. In the player’s speech the subject matter comes from the Aeneid, the same story as in Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage. Shakespeare turns the focus from Priam to Hecuba, and makes the connection between the War of the Roses and the Trojan War. Much material is more formal, uses simpler language and more Anglo Saxon words, in present tense vs. past. The soliloquy which follows this scene is a mirror opposite of the speech both in content and form. There is a contrast between the artificiality of the speech which makes the rest of the play Hamlet look more real. Levin also makes us aware of the play-outside-the-play: is there a Claudius in our audience? Shakespeare played the Ghost in Hamlet and traditionally that actor also plays the First Player, so Shakespeare may have been the first to deliver these lines. **

Topics covered: acting, foiling

Levin, Harry. "Interrogation, Doubt, Irony: Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis." Twentieth Hamlet. 73-81.

Lewis, C.S. "Hamlet." Shakespeare Tragedies 71-74.

Lewis, C.S. "Hamlet: The Prince or the Poem." Modern. 301-310.

Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 1993.

**Mack, Maynard. "The Readiness is All." 107-127.

Mack, Maynard. "The World of Hamlet." Twentieth Hamlet. 47-63. also in Modern Essays. 242-262. also in Shakespeare Tragedies 44-60.

Maher, Mary Z. Modern Hamlets and Their Soliloquies. Iowa City, Iowa: U of Iowa Press, 1992.

Maher discusses versions by John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, David Warner, Ben Kingsley, Derek Jacobi, Anton, Lesser, David Rintoul, Tandall Duk Kim, and Kevin Kline, based mainly on interviews. *

Topics covered: acting, staging

Mangan, Michael. A Preface to Shakespeare’s Tragedies. New York: Longman, 1991.

Mills, John A. Hamlet on Stage: The Great Tradition. Westport, CO: Harper and Row, 1985.

Neill, Heather. "Suit the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action." Times Educational Supplement 24 July 1992: 18.

Nevo, Ruth. "Acts III and IV: Problems of Text and Staging." William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. 45-64. also in Modern Hamlet. 45-66.

Nevo claims understanding staging is essential to interpreting the play. In Acts III and IV Hamlet goes from being an ideal character for the state to a danger that Claudius can dismiss. Nevo connects the "To be or not to be" speech to the previous scene (passivity of Hecuba vs action of Pyrrhus). Is the main topic of the speech revenge or suicide? In 1st Quarto "To be or not to be" precedes entrance of the players. She argues against Dover’s interpretation of the Nunnery Scene that Hamlet may have overheard plot, thinks doubts about character (Hamlet’s own and Ophelia’s) are more powerful. Following the Mousetrap Scene, Hamlet misjudges and his actions do not have the effect he wishes. She discusses the arbitrary act division between III and IV used by most editors, suggests IV.iii would be a better transition in terms of themes. She also argues that Fortinbras’ war and Laertes’s potential insurrection parallel Hamlet’s desire for both public justice and private retribution. She claims the play ends in "faith in the value of a life’s integrity" (64). **

Topics covered: staging, act divisions, "To be" speech

*O’Toole, Fintan. Shakespeare is Hard, but so Is Life. New York: Granta, 2002.

Palmer, D. J. "Stage Spectators in Hamlet." Essays and Studies 47 (1966): 423-30.

Pirie, David. "Hamlet without the Prince." Shakespeare’s Wide and Universal Stage. Edited by C. B. Cox and D. J. Palmer. Dover, NH: Manchester, 1984. 164-84.

**Poe, Edgar Allen. "Review of ‘The Characters of Shakespeare,’ by William Hazlitt." Hamlet: Enter Critic. Ed. By Claire Sacks and Edgar Whan. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1960. 199-200.

Prosser, Eleanor. Hamlet and Revenge. Second edition. Stanford, CA: Standord U Press, 1971.

Prosser discusses the question of the ghost, Hamlet’s suicidal nature, the idea of scourge or minister, holding a mirror up to Hamlet, and the Renaissance Christian Humanist idea of the readiness being all. **

Topics covered: ghost, depression/suicide, scourge and minister

**Rank, Martha. "Representation of Ophelia." A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts 36.1 (Winter 1994): 21-43.

Reiss, Amy J., and George Walton Williams. "Hamlet and Cucianus—Nephews to the King." Shakespeare Notes 42 (1992): 3-4.

They speculate on which 16 lines were the ones Hamlet asked the Player to insert into the play within the play. *

Topics covered: acting, language style

Robson, W.W. "Did the King see the Dumb Show?" Cambridge Quarterly 6 (1975): 303-26.

Robson’s article discusses the importance of the Dumb Show in the Mousetrap Scene. *

Topics covered: acting, Elizabethan conventions

**Ronk, Martha E. "Representations of Ophelia." Criticism 36.1 (Winter 1994): 21-43.

Rose, Jacqueline. "Hamlet—the ‘Mona Lisa’ of Literature." Critical Essays on Hamlet.

Rose, Mark. "Reforming the Role." Modern Hamlet. 117-128.

Rose claims both classical and Renaissance drama is concerned with fate, how our actions affect our ends. He says Shakespeare was equal to Sophocles in his ability to transform Elizabethan drama. He uses the language of the play, like Hamlet being tethered, to show how "his will is not his own." He can’t leave Denmark and is bound by his promise to the Ghost. The image of Old Hamlet (in armor) fighting Old Fortinbras, ratified by law and heraldry, is an ideal Hamlet cannot attain with his confrontation (mostly verbal) or even the duel at the end. Hamlet looks for freedom, does not want to be like a recorder to be played upon (but will demonstrate he can play upon Polonius), doesn’t want others to choose the role he plays in his own life. Rose says Hamlet is not non-violent, not appalled by killing, but doesn’t want to be conventional in going about his revenge. Polonius’ family are all foils to Hamlet. Polonius’ advice is more closely followed by Hamlet than Laertes. In the end Hamlet finally allows himself to be played upon by higher power; he can be a collaborator only in his own changes. But at the end Hamlet takes vulgar/conventional role of revenger. **

Topics covered: fate, acting, foils

Rosenberg, Marvin. The Masks of Hamlet. Neward, DE: U of Delaware Press, 1992.

Rosenberg discusses various directors’ problems with staging. *

Topics covered: staging

Saccio, Peter. Shakespeare’s English Kings. New York: Oxford University Press, 2nd Ed. 2000.

Saccio, Peter. William Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Parts I, II, and III. Springfield, VA: The Teaching Company, 1997.

*Sacks, Claire, and Edgar Whan, eds. Hamlet Enter Critic. New York: Appleton-Century Crofts, 1960.

This text reviews various performances of Hamlet on the stage. There are also excerpts of articles on Hamlet’s madness, the Oedipal interpretation of Hamlet, the language or poetry in the play, humor in Hamlet. **

Topics covered: acting, madness, psychological interpretation, language, humor

Scragg, Leah. Discovering Shakespeare’s Meaning. London: MacMillan, 1988.

Sinfield, Alan. "Hamlet's Special Providence." Shakespeare Survey 33 (1980): 92.

Spencer, Theodore. "Hamlet and the Nature of Reality." Twentieth Hamlet. 32-42.

Spencer discusses the appearance vs. reality theme and talks a bit about the Renaissance Christian Humanist idea of the Great Chain of Being and contrasts it to the Machiavellian view. He also discusses Hamlet’s state of mind through several soliloquies. **

Topics covered: world views, Hamlet’s character, speeches

**Stanton, Kay. "Hamlet’s Whores." New Essays on Hamlet. New York: AMS Press, 1994. 176-181.

She analyzes the often quoted line "Get thee to a nunnery." She gives both interpretations, with nunnery referring to a brothel or with Hamlet telling Ophelia she is too virtuous for this world and should be sequestered from the corrupt world of Denmark.

States, Bert O. Hamlet and the Concept of Character. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins U P, 1992.

States deals with how spectators experience the play and how ambiguous Hamlet is. *

Topics covered: staging, acting, ambiguity

Stoll, E.E. "Hamlet’s Fault in the Light of Other Tragedies." Twentieth Hamlet. 104.

**Stoll, Elmer Edgar. Hamlet: An Historical and Comparative Study. New York: Gordian Press, 1968.

**Thatcher, David. "Horatio’s ‘Let Me Speak’: Narrative Summary and Summary Narrative in Hamlet." English Studies 74.3 (June 1993): 246-257.

Tillyard, E. M. W. The Elizabethan World Picture. London: Chatto & Windus, 1943.

Tillyard, E. M. W. Shakespeare’s History Plays. London: Chatto & Windus, 1944.

Trewin, J. C. Five and Eighty Hamlets. New York: New Amsterdam, 1987.

Trewin discusses the various interpretations of the character and how it changes our interpretation of the play itself. *

Topics covered: acting, character of Hamlet

Visconti, Laura. "The 'Play' in Hamlet: the Primacy of Theater." Shakespeare Quarterly 43.2 (Summer 1992): 30-42.

Visconti examines the metaphysical nature of Hamlet, the character, and his originality in the play-within-a-play. *

Topics covered: acting

*Watts, Cedric. Hamlet: Harvester New Critical Introductions to Shakespeare. London: Harvester, 1988.

Watts discusses Horatio, Fortinbras, Hamlet, the ghost, vengeful sons (Laertes, Forinbras, Pyrrhus), Hamlet’s delay. **

Topics covered: characters, sons, procrastination

*Weitz, Morris. Hamlet and the Philosophy of Literary Criticism. Cleveland, OH: Meridian, 1964.

Weitz summarizes the seminal works of previous Shakespeare critics, including A.C. Bradley, Ernest Jones, G. Wilson Knight, T.S. Eliot, Francis Fergusson, J.Dover Wilson, and several other historical critics. He also discusses several issues raised in Hamlet and tries to categorize the different points of view in the Shakespearean criticism, based on the philosophy of the critic. ***

Topics covered: criticism, Hamlet

Wentersdorf, Karl P. "Hamlet's Encounter With the Pirates." Shakespeare Quarterly 34.4 (Winter 1983): 434-40.

Whitaker, Virgil K. The Mirror Up to Nature. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 1965.

Wilson, J. Dover. "Antic Disposition." Twentieth Hamlet. 105-6.

This is the portion of Dover’s book that deals with Hamlet’s madness. **

Topics covered: madness, Hamlet’s character

Wilson, J. Dover. What Happens in Hamlet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1935.

Wilson gives a good explanation about the ghost and about Hamlet’s madness. He also analyzes Gertrude, the Mousetrap scene, the turning point of the climax of Hamlet, the funeral of Ophelia, and the source for the players. ***

Topics covered: madness, ghost, climax, acting

Wofford, Susanne L., ed. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. New York: Bedford Books, 1994.

Wofford’s book provides samples of feminist, psychoanalytic, deconstructionalism, Marxism, and New Historian criticisms of Hamlet. Within these articles are discussions of Ophelia, the ghost, madness, and many other issues. ***

Topics covered: criticism, madness, the ghost, Ophelia, Hamlet

Woodhead, M. R. "Deep Plots and Indiscretions in 'The Murder of Gonzago.'" Shakespeare Survey 32 (1979): 151-61.

This article deals with the plot of the play-within-a-play, but not the staging of it. *

Topics covered: Mousetrap scene

Young, David. The Action to the Word. New Haven: Yale U Press, 1990.

Young has a chapter on Hamlet titled "Large Discourse and Thrifty Action." His overall purpose is to study the structure and style in Shakespeare’s tragedies. *

Topics covered: language

Henry IV, part 1, Henry V

Barber, C.L. "From Ritual to Comedy: An Examination of Henry IV." Modern Essays. 144-166.

Barber, C.L. "Rule and Misrule." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Henry IV, part 1. Ed. By R.J. Dorius. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970. 51-70.

In the Henry IV plays, Shakespeare combines comedy and history/chronicle play. "Shakespeare dramatizes not only holiday but also the need for holiday and the need to limit holiday" (51) in Hal’s reformation speech. He explains how comedy is alike and how comedy differs from ritual. Modern criticism tries to find universals in literature—archetypes, myths, rituals. Shakespeare is more complex, uses the ritual but makes us evaluate it at the same time. In Shakespeare’s plays characters may "try to organize their lives by pageant and ritual, but the plays are dramatic precisely because the effort fails" (52). The failure reflects their personalities and eventually their destinies. Shakespeare’s characters are also fascinated with magic, the power of words. He discusses the scapegoat analogy with respect to Falstaff. Falstaff is also unprecedented as he is a combination of the "clowning customary on the stage and the folly customary on holiday" (54). Nevertheless, Barber argues against considering Falstaff central to the Henry IV plays; Hal is central. Central also is the role of the king. This illustrates the source of the play as the Prodigal Son morality play with Vice represented by Falstaff and his cronies. Shakespeare changes this convention away from the question of whether Hal will be good or bad to whether he will remain in his holiday mode forever, yet Shakespeare answers this in Act 1 with Hal’s reformation speech, so the mystery becomes how and when he will reform, not if. This contrasts him to Richard II who did not discard his Saturnalia soon enough. Hal’s sense of timing is perfect. Falstaff’s genius is his ability to think his way out of predicaments (often that he got into himself). And comedic scenes in first 3 acts of Henry IV, part 1 are quite responsive to court situations so no head-in-the-sand attitude—in the tavern the evaluation is done through play. Falstaff’s counterfeiting death is like the King’s counterfeits which protect him from death. Falstaff is compared to Richard II in his use of language. "As Prof Tillyard has pointed out, Richard II is the most ceremonial of all Shakespeare’s plays, and the ceremony all comes to nothing" (67).***

Topics covered: ceremony, language, Hal, Falstaff, reformation theme

Barish, Jonas A. "The Turning away of Prince Hal." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 83-88.

The rejection of Falstaff is a litmus test for audiences—are we moralists or sentimentalists? Themes of the Henry IV plays contrast authority/rebellion, business/pleasure, sobriety/negligence. But the dream, the holiday with Falstaff [unlike the time spent in the Golden World of As You Like It] does not permanently change/affect Hal; he rejects it and Falstaff. Hal does not synthesize the two worlds. Falstaff’s actions in Henry IV, part 2 justify the rejection. Antony and Cleopatra are seen as contrasts to Hal; they begin with authority, time, and end in play, holiday, timelessness. *

Topics covered: Falstaff, contrasts to other plays

Berman, Ronald. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Henry IV, part 1. Ed. By R.J. Dorius. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970.

Bradley, A.C. "The Rejection of Falstaff." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 71-77.

There is much more to Falstaff than the characterizations we laugh at him for (his size, his bombast, his lies, his lifestyle). We laugh at him but we are also entranced by him. He is happy and we share his enjoyment of life. He is also a "humorist of genius" (72). Though he loves his sack, his wit is not dulled by it. Bradley claims no one else in the play understands Falstaff. Falstaff has a "humorous superiority to everything serious" (74). His affection for Hal makes him vulnerable to the rejection. But his real situation (poor in purse though great in waist) and how he uses others makes him a contemptible person but only if looked at seriously. Since the focus of the Henry IV and Henry V plays is in the growth of Hal, in the end Falstaff must be disgraced, rejected. Thus Shakespeare changes the tone to favor the serious view rather than the comic in Henry IV, part 2. Nevertheless Bradley says "in the creation Falstaff [Shakespeare] overreaches himself" (77). He calls Falstaff the greatest comic character in history. He claims Shakespeare bestowed an infinity of mind in Falstaff (like that bestowed on Hamlet, Cleopatra, and MacBeth) but denied to Hal. ***

Topics covered: Hal, Falstaff, comedy

*Bullough, Geoffrey. "Introduction to Henry V." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Henry V. Ed. By Ronald Berman. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1968. 20-28.

Cambell, Lily B. "The Virtorious Acts of King Henry V." Twentieth Henry V. 15-19.

Dean, Leonard F. "From Richard II to Henry V: A Closer View." Modern Essays. 188-205.

Danby, John F. "Authority and Appetite." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 93-95.

"Hal . . . is Shakespeare’s tired consciousness, Falstaff Shakespeare’s unconscious" (93). Hal is a model Prince, a paradigm. But Danby calls him a "Machiavel of goodness." Rather than the ends-justifying-means philosophy, Hal espouses "let what you do indicate what you can do better" and lets ends look after themselves—the process/the technique is all important. Danby claims "Hal plays Shakespeare himself moving on, becoming more aware; as Hal turns away from Falstaff, Shakespeare himself turn away from Hal" (94). Rejection of Falstaff by Hal was an allegory for conflicting Appetite and Authority in England itself. (Spanish treasure fleets represented by merchants at Gad’s Hill, Essex’s rejection by Elizabeth like Falstaff’s by Hal). *

Topics covered: Hal, Falstaff, rejection

*Dorius, R.J. "Introduction." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 1-11.

Dorius discusses ambiguity of characters of Hal and Falstaff, Hal’s relation to time, the two Hals—the private man associates with Falstaff and other common men, the public man in soliloquy promises to redeem himself. Hotspur gambles with time; Falstaff ignores it. Today interpretations of the play "fall on one side or the other of the pleasure principle" (2), either the focus is too much on Falstaff and even Hal is seen as manipulative, or Falstaff is seen as a clown. Hal is an unusual Shakespearean hero in that he succeeds without much suffering. There is a pattern in the history plays: someone goads another into challenging a powerful person, but unlike Brutus (egged on by Cassius to challenge Caesar or Hamlet by the Ghost or Othello by Iago or MacBeth by the witches), Hal does not choose to follow Falstaff’s lead of scorning Henry IV and actually supports his father. Hal assimilates the virtues of other characters such as Hotspur. Hal’s interaction with the world is more like a comedy hero’s. Hal can live both outside time with Falstaff (as in comedy) and in the world of flux (as in tragedy). Hal combines wise passivity of Hamlet with wisdom and intelligence of Shakespeare’s comedy heroes. But Hal doesn’t have to avenge a wrongful death of the king—just atone for it. Unlike Hotspur’s and Falstaff’s extremes, Hal represents the middle way. Dorius says in Hal Shakespeare "holds up a mirror for magistrates more humane than that devised by moralists" (7). Hal also is the prototypical Prodigal Son. Hal has political sense of timing like Bolingbroke and Richard III. Hal becomes more two-dimensional when he rejects the Falstaff side of himself to don his public responsibilities as King. Dorius contrasts Hal’s rejection of Falstaff against Antony’s choice of Cleopatra over all the world. **

Topics covered: time, parallels between plays, Hal

Dorius, R.J. "A Little More than a Little." Shakespeare Histories. 113-131.

Dutton, Richard. "The Second Tetralogy." Bibliographical. 337-380.

Ellis-Fermor, Una. "Shakespeare’s Political Plays." Twentieth Henry V. 46-59.

Empson, William. "The Ambiguity of Falstaff." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 78-82.

The Prodigal Son story was very popular in Shakespeare’s time. Falstaff can be seen as the medieval Vice character, but it doesn’t explain his appeal. He is also associated with the cowardly swashbuckler of the Latin plays. Within the history tradition Falstaff stands for social disorder (parallels to the rebel leaders who, through usurpation, are attempting disorder). In "real life" he is the scandalous upper class character whose antics please the lower class (this is unique to Shakespeare). He also stands for Machiavellianism, and he is hence a good teacher for the king, though his rejection is necessary. Rejection is necessary at the end if only because of Falstaff’s great expectations and how he might have misused power. Empson claims Falstaff is a self-portrait and ties him to Shakespeare’s life experiences after breaking off from his patron. **

Topics covered: Falstaff

Frye, Northrop. "Nature and Nothing." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 89-90.

In Shakespeare, histories constantly look back to Golden Age (Henry VI looks back to Agincourt; Henry IVs and V to Richard, John of Gaunt to age of Edward III). Bolingbroke being seen as a natural force (not a wicked Machiavellian usurper or Hamlet-like righteous avenger) is needed because Richard is not doing what is required of a king. This breaks the connection to the cosmic order and glorifies Richard. Hal has more right to the throne but still exhibits guilt like his father. The histories center on the revolving wheel of fortune with the dialectic of nature (high) with nothing (low). Nature is associated with art, connecting the myth of lost paradise (the fall of Adam) to the reality of our lives.*

Topics covered: Bolingbroke, Richard

Frey, Northrop. "Comedy and Falstaff." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 91-92.

Shakespeare realizes a profound pattern in comedy connected with ritual of death and revival with the eventual victory of summer over winter. Shakespeare’s comedy is "not Aristotelian and realistic . . . nor Platonic and didactic" (91). Like Spenser’s Fairie Queene, there is a green world. In the Henry IV plays, this is the tavern of Falstaff’s world Shakespeare subject matter is not as much nature or reality or morality as it is language itself. *

Topics covered: ritual, comedy, Falstaff

Greenblatt, Stephen Jay. Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Included in this book is an essay that has become famous called "Invisible Bullets" about the issues of class and culture in the history plays.

Hawkins, Sherman H. "Virtue and Kingship in Shakespeare’s Henry IV." English Literary Renaissance 5(1975): 313-43.

Hodgdon, Barbara. William Shakespeare First Part of Henry the Fourth. New York: Bedford, 1997.

Humphreys, A.R. "The Unity and Background of Henry IV, part 1." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 18-40.

Humphreys argues against Sir Edmund Chambers’ view that the history of the history plays was just a backdrop for the setting for the comic character of Falstaff. He agrees with Hazlett that tragic and serious is equal to comic and farcical. Two aspects, serious and comic, do not alternate but are integrated together or juxtaposed to force a judgment of each in relation to the other. They look like opposites (court/tavern, gravity/wit), but both plots support the same themes (threat to Henry IV’s rule by Hotspur and Hal). The rebels’ self seeking is disguised by talk of honour and the exploits of Falstaff and his gang of thieves are romanticized. We are meant to contrast Hotspur’s rant about the Morimer/Glendower battle with Falstaff’s account of his battle with men in buckram green. Another serious/comic comparison is more obvious: the play within the Jest scene with Hal’s actual confrontation with his father; the Gad’s Hill attempted theft with the rebels’ revolt. Hotspur and Falstaff represent virtue and vice, but live in their fantasies. Hal needs both to rule wisely and must live in the real world. Humphreys contrasts I.i and I.ii, also II.ii and II.iii, and IV.i and IV.ii. Put into historical perspective, Shakespeare’s first tetralogy focuses on questions of right and wrong, justice and injustice; the second on more expedient questions of strong or weak, secure or insecure. Falstaff’s comments act as a criticism of corrupt state but Shakespeare does not allow him the last word. The world of Henry IV is Shakespeare’s comic vision, acceptance, inclusiveness. Humphreys traces Falstaff’s connection to Sir John Oldcastle and explains the differences in character which Shakespeare included. ***

Topics covered: structure, foils and contrasts, Hal, Falstaff, Hotspur

Hunter, Robert G. "Shakespeare’s Comic Sense as it Strikes us Today: Falstaff and the Protestant Ethic." In David Bevington and Jay L. Halio, eds., Shakespeare: Pattern of Excelling Nature. Neward: Univeristy of Delaware Pres, 1978.

Jenkins, Harold. "The Structural Problem in Shakespeare’s Henry the Fourth." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 96-98.

Jenkins connects incidents in the plays to Holinshed and suggests Shakespeare changed his mind in the writing of this tetralogy. The play suggests Hal’s ascension to the throne would come shortly after Shrewsbury when, in fact, 10 years intervene. Shakespeare perhaps started with a poem by Samuel Daniel, "The Civil Wars," as a model (in which Hotspur is young as in Shakespeare’s play). Jenkins says Shakespeare perhaps changed his mind in Act IV (not the same decisive action as in Richard II and Henry V), in Henry IV, part 1, Act IV just works as preparation with part 2 saved for the transfer of power. So the climax becomes the battle, not the transfer of kingship to Hal. *

Topics covered: history, creative process

Kernan, Alvin B. "The Henriad: Shakespeare’s Major History Plays." Modern. 245-278.

Deals with Lancastrian tetralogy of history plays.

**Krims, Marvin B. "Hotspur’s Antifeminine Prejudice in Shakespeares 1 Henry IV." Literature and Psychology  118-131.

Kris, Ernst. "Prince Hal’s Conflict." Approaches to Shakespeare. Ed. by Norman Rabkin. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964. 182-202. also found in Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 109-111.

The conflict between father and son is acted out three times in Henry IV, part 1. First Hal’s symbolically goes through the confrontation with his own father in a play-within-a-play with Falstaff. Hotspur’s conflict is with a weak father too ill to help him in battle. Shakespeare also establishes the triangular relationship between Hal-Henry-Falstaff and Hotspur-Northumberland-Worchester. Also Henry has two possible sons: Hal and Hotspur. Hotspur is a foil to Hal—acting out Hal’s desire for rebellion against Henry. Kris thinks Hal may have idealized Richard II, whom he would have accompanied to Ireland (as a hostage). Hal connected to Hamlet in that a father figure killed an admired relative of his. Psychology interprets Hal’s reaction as forming a filial attachment to a father substitute, usually the antithesis of the father. *

Topics covered: foils, father/son relationships

Langbaum, Robert. "Character versus Action in Shakespeare." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 102-105.

As readers interpret Falstaff in a psychological or anti-psychological way, he is seen either as flawed and an object of scorn or in control of comedy as he laughs at himself. Is he an agent of the past or in control of his own story? Falstaff represents excess, but not as a Vice as in Aristotle. It is a cause of his failure but also of his destruction. Falstaff creates his own atmosphere, takes over the stage, asserts his point of view. But in focusing on the psychology of character we must ignore the external truths (money, power). We should judge Falstaff as an artist. But by focusing only on character, we ignore the way elements of the plot interact with the themes. *

Topics covered: Falstaff, excess

Le Guardia, Eric. "Ceremony and History: The Problems of Symbol from Richard II to Henry V." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 41-50.

La Guardia uses the terms of ceremony and history to explain the conflict of divinity and mortality: history means the event itself, not its ideal. Mimetic reality is ceremony and reflects what ought to be in a timeless golden world. Le Guardia says Richard’s was a mystical kingship—Henry V’s, a rational one. There is a decadence in Richard’s poetic, chivalric sensibility. Hal’s world is different but it is Shakespeare’s intent to show decline or rise, loss or gain. Le Guardia says we are meant to see the world as man participating in both worldviews. Richard has excessive faith in symbol and ceremony; Henry V does not. Bolingbroke is a foil to poetical man. Hal in Henry IV plays must create a symbolic order of kingship through actions in court or on the battlefield. He says Falstaff is much like Richard in his love (and exaggeration) of language. Drama balances the creative power of imagination with immediate experience. Also he claims Henry IV is the best balance of history and ceremony politically but its loss is in imagination. He discusses the power of language, of naming something. **

Topics covered: language, contrasting world views, Hal

Rabkin, Norman. "Life and Power in the Histories." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 106-108.

Richard II establishes a theme that is dealt with throughout the tetralogy: political success is always "complementary to qualities of the human spirit incomparable with it" (106). The theme is involved with creating a harmonious commonwealth. In the Henry IV plays Shakespeare contrasts political success against Falstaff’s sense of life, sensuality. But perpetual play must be rejected. Hal knows early on what Richard II does not learn until the end, that he must be aware of time and the concord of the staff. The natures of the players make the unfolding of history inevitable. The two extreme views of honor expressed by Holspur and Falstaff just show its meaninglessness. Rabkin says the theme of this history cycle is likened to a psychological view of man: that he is torn between the demands his role places on him and his desire to make his place in history and the instinctive sense that life is amoral and gratification to self is all that matters. Like Freud Shakespeare is not optimistic about man’s ability to balance the pleasure principle with the reality principle. **

Topics covered: time, honor, characters

Reese, M.M. "Henry V." Twentieth Henry V. 88-93.

Rossiter, A.P. "Ambivalence: The Dialectic of the Histories." Twentieth Henry V. 74-87.

Tillyard, E.M.W. "Henry V." Twentieth Henry V. 36-45.

Toliver, Harold. E. "Falstaff, the Prince, and the History Play." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 13-17.

The 18th Century interpreted Henry IV as an impressive King and Hal as a hero, not a Machievellian. And that time period would not have understood a Freudian interpretation of Falstaff. Our modern view reads the histories as Shakespeare’s attempt to integrate providential order, politics, and timeless human impulses—inner conscience and outward exigencies of political life. The language is that of incantation and ritual. While tragic ritual explores man in relation to fate (death/god), history focuses more on the man within the political role (destiny filtered through social medium). The audience is prepared to view histories in nationalistic terms. Toliver sees history as instructive (the Renaissance Humanist Christian view). He references Aristotle’ terms anagnorisis and catharsis to describe Falstaff’s role as victim. The central action is finding the balance between the inner self and social responsibility. He sees Falstaff as a rebel against history. **

Topics covered: Hal, Falstaff, history, language

Traversi, Derek. "The Climax of the Play." Twentieth Henry IV, part 1. 99-101.

The central duel between Hotspur and Hal resolves the "honour" question and destiny. Hotspur’s final speech expresses disillusionment and seeks emotional closure. No one really wins the final battle; the king cannot creative unity, and the rebels fail. Falstaff is an ironic spectator in this battle. Shakespeare creates contrast in language between Hal’s 2 epitaphs—to Hotspur and to Falstaff. Falstaff’s speech and action of stabbing the dead Hotspur also prove to illustrate the chivalry we just saw in Hal’s battle with Hotspur. Falstaff ‘s change in character, connected to his social aspirations, which is more fully developed in Henry IV, part 2, is seen beginning here. **

Topics covered: honor, Falstaff, Hotspur, Hal, climax

Traversi, Derek. "Henry the Fifth." Twentieth Henry V. 60-73.

Traversi, Derek. "The Historical Pattern from Richard II to Henry V." Shakespeare Histories. 102-112.

Walter, J.H. "Introduction to Henry V." Shakespeare Histories. 152-167.

Williams, Charles. "Henry V." Twentieth Henry V. 29-35.

Wilson, J. Dover. "Falstaff and the Prince." Shakespeare Histories. 132-151.

Wilson, J. Dover. The Fortunes of Falstaff. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.

Winny, James. The Player King. The Theme of Shakespeare’s Histories. London: Chatto & Windus, 1968.

King Lear

*Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations: King Lear. New York: Chelsea, 1987.

Bloom, Harold. "Introduction." Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Ed. by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 1-8.

Shakespeare has molded our sense of reality as well as how we perceive reality. King Lear’s only worthy predecessor is the Book of Job in the Bible. Lear on the heath in the storm was compared to Job by Frank Kermode but Job’s trials far outweigh Lear’s. Bloom says Shakespeare probably intended us to see Job’s situation through allusions. But Lear is not as pious as Job, and he brings about his own trials. The storm does change Lear making him more compassionate toward others. Lear is not a Christian though Cordelia seems like a Christian personage. Bloom claims Act IV sc 6, the mad Lear with blind Gloucester scene, is not needed within the narrative structure but is very poetic in its language. Fool undergoes transformation from wise counselor to frightened child. Edmund also changes. [Bloom says Edmund may possibly be Shakespeare’s "sly portrait of Christopher Marlowe himself" (7)] and is a pure Machiavellian character. Lear and Edmund never speak and have no language in common. **

Topics covered: Lear, Edmund, Christian allusions

*Bonheim, Helmut. The King Lear Perplex. San Francisco: Wadsworth, 1960.

Booth, Stephen. "On the Greatness of King Lear." Modern King Lear. 57-70.

Booth compares Goneril and Regan, shows similarities and differences. He explains "kindly" in "thy other daughter will use thee kindly" as "according to her kind or nature" (57) not "tenderly" and reminds us there are crab apples so comparison between the two as being different as a crab is from an apple is ambiguous also. They begin in accord, act as a single unit, but are in conflict by the end of the play. Booth claims this analogy of Goneril and Regan as alike and dissimilar represents the way all paired aspects of the play work together: Edmund/Edgar, prayers to Nature, Edgar and Poor Tom, Albany fighting for England and for Lear and Cordelia, Gloucester brought down because of his uncontrolled passions which resulted in Edmund. Booth also compares King Lear to earlier Gorboduc but Shakespeare was not as didactic as Sackville and Norton. Having Gloucester voice homilies as superstitious nonsense, Shakespeare undercuts easy answers. Moral high ground is not clean but punishments for transgressions seem out of proportion. Even Cordelia is not presented as purely good. He shows how the audience makes the same character misjudgments as Lear does. ***

Topics covered: characters, Goneril and Regan, Gloucester and Lear, Edgar, structure

Calderwood, James. "Creative Uncreation in King Lear." Modern King Lear. 121-138.

Shakespeare was apparently fascinated by abduction and truancy, and Calderwood questions whether Shakespeare himself might be engaging in what he calls "creative uncreation." He acknowledges the imagery, structure of the play, double plot and yet suggests a deconstructuralist view of Lear. He claims more creations begin with disorder and create the order. Lear, Calderwood claims, begins with order but Shakespeare makes us aware of how stale the institutions and rituals are by shaking them up. Something often comes of nothing in Lear (for Edmund, Edgar’s roles). Calderwood claims nothing comes from something also (Lear on the heath, Poor Tom). Edgar comments on actions in the subplot ("the worst is not . . .") as the Fool does in the main plot. If the Fool and Cordelia were played by the same actor, each characters represents only part of the truth. The Fool is an "outsider within" trying to tell truths to a society that thinks it knows the truth. The Fool falls dumb and disappears after the storm because, after all, what truths could a court fool tell of the stark realizations forced on Lear on the heath? Gloucester’s death is easier to take than Lear’s because Edgar structures it for us through language. Edgar is a moral commentator on events in the last half of the play. Lear does not emerge from the storm with great wisdom, only with the conviction that he doesn’t know. Lear’s broken heart is presaged with lines throughout the play. Calderwood says the two plots move in opposite ways: the main plot toward madness, chaos; the subplot toward order, meaning (through Edgar’s reports). Lear ends with King Lear trying to see life in Cordelia (seeing motif). **

Topics covered: Fool, "nothing" motif, Edgar, structure

Cunningham, J.V. "Ripeness is All." Approaches. 131-139.

Danby, John F. Shakespeare’s Doctrine of Nature: A Study of "King Lear." London: Faber, 1948.

*Dodd, William. "Impossible Worlds: What Happens in King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1?" Shakespeare Quarterly 50.4 (Winter 1999); 477-507.

Dollmore, Jonathan. "King Lear and Essentialist Humanism." Modern King Lear. 71-84.

Dollmore claims on the heath "debasement gives rise to dignity" (71). He claims humanist view has displaced Christian view nowadays. He makes the distinction thus: "the Christian view locates man centrally in the providential universe; the humanist likewise centralizes man but now he is in a condition of tragic dislocation: instead of integrating (ultimately) with a teleological design created and sustained by God, man grows to consciousness in a universe which thwarts his deepest needs" (71). He is suggesting Lear’s and Cordelia’s suffering are not part of a divine plan. What is most important is not only that Lear suffers but that he is aware of his suffering and how he endures it. Dollmore claims that Lear does not feel pity until he has himself been wretched in the storm. Again the contrast with Gloucester is instructive—when "poor Tom" tells Gloucester he is cold, Gloucester’s response is simply to go into the hovel—he does not really understand, as Lear does when he notices the Fool is cold. Dollmore says Shakespeare is saying justice is too important to leave to empathy (since how often do princes truly feel what wretches do?). Dollmore claims Shakespeare repudiates stoicism in King Lear. Lear withstands the universe (storm) solely by his rage and endurance. Dollmore paraphrases J. W. Lever’s notion that the tragic flaw is not in the character of Lear but in the world (he speaks generally of Jacobean tragedy). Dollmore also discusses Lear’s madness as an underlying ideology in King Lear as it relates to power, property, and inheritance. Abdication of familial duty is seen in both the plot and the subplot. Family (far from supporting society) undercuts society through conflicts within the family. ***

Topics covered: world view of play, characters, comparisons

Dreher, Diane. "Shakespeare’s Cordelia and the Power of Character." World and I 13.4 (April 1998): 287-301.

The relevance of the character of Cordelia is explored and her difficult moral choices evaluated.

*Elton, William R. King Lear and the Gods. Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky Press, 1988.

Goddard, Harold C. "King Lear." Modern King Lear. 9-44.

The theme of King Lear is the same as the main theme in Greek drama—relation of the generations, "authority of the past over the present as symbolized by the Father" (9). He differentiates between worldly obedience and rebellion against the father as spiritual success or failure. Goddard claims Desdemona was most like Cordelia of the other Shakespeare heroines. Whereas in Hamlet the child is connected to the father’s code—blood vengeance, in King Lear the father becomes more like the child. Cordelia underplays her true love for Lear as much as Hamlet overplays his for his father. Goddard sees Hamlet and King Lear as parallel plays but claims Lear has the better answers. Another theme is unregulated passion has power to drive human nature to chaos. Unmastered passion causes a character to consume himself. The Golden Mean is seen as the ideal. King Lear shows how a king became a man. Goddard claims mad Lear pardons first then asks the offence. Goddard says it is important that Shakespeare included the title King in King Lear. Goddard has analyzed biological (father/child relationships), psychological and political themes but claims the most important is religious. He contrasts Gloucester/Lear on their roles and on madness. Key is in blinding of Gloucester scene and metaphor of seeing. The overall story is how Lear acquired better vision (from Kent’s "see, better, Lear"). For both Lear and Gloucester, affliction brings insight, more valuable than sight. Goddard claims III.iii (the heath scene) illustrates the truth that blindness and passion are connected. Lear and Falstaff both love life, never consider suicide. Goddard explains sense within nonsense of Lear’s ramblings. He does a thorough analysis of the last scene and questions whether Cordelia is really dead at the end, or rather that Lear perceives that Cordelia lives on after her death. ****

Topics covered: characters, father/child relationships, seeing motif

*Goldberg, S. L. An Essay on King Lear. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1974.

Greenblatt, Stephen. "Shakespeare and the Exorcists." Modern King Lear. 97-120.

Shakespeare was reading a book by Samuel Harnsett about illegal exorcisms done in 1985-86 as he wrote King Lear in 1603. Greenblatt argues that aesthetic interpretation of literature cannot be separated from the cultural context of that literature and claims that even deconstructionalism blurs the line between history and literature. From Harsnett, Shakespeare got the names of the foul fields Edgar calls on as Poor Tom. Greenblatt connects both texts to the struggle to redefine the sacred which led to civil war in the mid 17th Century. Harsnett’s exorcisms were identified with the Jesuit Catholic faith. This is the time of the inquisition and witch burning. Edgar was forced to counterfeit. In Lear there are no ghosts, witches, or demons but a man faking possession and madness (Edgar as Poor Tom). His violence is self-directed—masochism—not acts of viciousness as those done by Cornwall or psychologically hurtful as those done by Goneril and Regan and Edmund. Lear seems to want the storm to mean something symbolic, yet there is no evidence that it does. **

Topics covered: historical context, Edgar, Lear

Harbage, Alfred. "King Lear: an Introduction." Shakespeare Tragedies 113-122.

*Hawkes, Terence. William Shakespeare King Lear. Plymouth, England: Northcote House, 1995.

*Heilman, Robert B. Magic in the Web. Lexington, KE: University of Kentucky Press, 1966.

*Holahan, Michael. "’Look, her Lips’: Softness of Voice, Construction of Character in King Lear." Shakespeare Quarterly 48.4 (Winter 1997): 406-431.

Holahan compares Lear to Cordelia in the last scene and suggests that he takes on some of her characteristics, notably her softness of voice.

**Hughes, John. "The Politics of Forgiveness: A Theological Exploration of King Lear." Modern Theology 17.3 (July 2001): 261-287.

*Kennedy, Joy. "Shakespeare’s King Lear." The Explicator 60.2 (Winter 2002): 60-65.

Knight, G. Wilson. "King Lear and the Comedy of the Grotesque." Shakespeare Tragedies 123-128.

Kott, Jan. "’King Lear’ or ‘Endgame.’" Modern. 360-384.

Knowles, Richard. "Cordelia’s Return." Shakespeare Quarterly 50.1 (Spring 1999): 33-50.

Knowles explores Cordelia’s reasons for returning to England though she is safe in France. He postulates that she is angry on Lear’s behalf and at her sisters’ treatment of their father.

*Mack, Maynard. King Lear in Our Time. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1972.

Markels, Julian. "Shakespeare’s Confluence of Tragedy and Comedy: Twelfth Night and King Lear." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 63-69.

Muir, Kenneth. "King Lear." Bibliographical. 241-258.

Newman, Neville F. "Shakespeare’s King Lear." The Explicator 60.4 (Summer 2002): 191-195.

*Nielson, Christopher T. "Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear.’" The Explicator 52.1 (Fall 1993): 16-21.

Nielson examines Edmund’s last speech to see if he did indeed change his character or if he was suggesting to kill the captain who was carrying out his commandments about Lear and Cordelia.

Novy, Marianne. "Patriarchy, Mutuality, and Forgiveness." Modern King Lear. 85-96.

As Othello evaluates patriarchal behavior of a husband, King Lear does the same for the father. Lear and his daughters need each other. Lear needs forgiveness. An overbalance of power results in male domination and coercion and female deception (as in the 1st scene, Lear offers power and property in exchange for love). Goneril and Regan reply as expected. They and Cordelia are often interpreted in Western literature as resembling devil and angel/ Eve and Mary figures. There is not much complexity to Goneril and Regan despite their important position in the text. Cordelia’s tears seem as representative of her forgiveness, compassion. She cannot forestall the political consequences of Lear’s folly but does much to heal his emotional pain. Mutuality is also representative of the relationship between actors and audience but the ending of Lear paradoxically also shows separateness as we can empathize but not feel Lear’s pain. But Cordelia’s forgiveness has mediated between Lear and the audience so that we can accept him, even with his faults. The end image is often compared to the Pieta, with Lear in the female role, holding the dead body of the child. The audience’s sympathy connects them to remaining characters who can do nothing for Lear but sympathize. ***

Topics covered: parent/child relationships, daughters, audience’s role

*Ridden, Geoffrey M. "’King Lear’ Act III Folk-tale and Tragedy." The Review of English Studies 49.195 (August 1998): 329-403.

Ridden suggests the third act of King Lear may be based on the Revesby Play, a folk-tale about the sacrifice of a central character, the Fool. It also echoes the play in the plot of children turning on their parents.

Sewell, Arthur. "Character and Society in King Lear." Shakespeare Tragedies 139-147.

Stampfer, J. "The Catharsis of King Lear." Modern Essays. 361-376.

Warren, Michael J. "Quarto and Folio King Lear and the Interpretation of Albany and Edgar." Modern King Lear. 45-56.

Warren discusses how these two versions are very different: 283 lines in the Quarto are not in the Folio; 100 in the Folio but not in the Quarto. So some have assumed that there is some ideal King Lear from which both are corruptions. Warren disagrees and claims the Quarto may be an authoritative version (with Shakespeare’s blessing) or the Folio could be a revision (again revised by Shakespeare himself). Warren uses the exchange between Lear and Kent is in the stocks as an example of how editors usually combine the two versions. Then he argues a significant difference in the interpretation of Albany and Edgar between the Quarto and the Folio, especially in the last scene. This suggests Shakespeare reworked the play. Albany is stronger in the Quarto; Edgar in the Folio. Edgar in both is a Romantic idealized hero whose world view (in the scene before entrance of blind Gloucester) reveals his own limitations of vision—he thinks he is at the worst only to have things made worse for him.

Topics covered: Edgar, Albany, language, creative process

MacBeth

Fergusson, Francis. "MacBeth as the Imitation of an Action." Approaches. 121-139.

Merchant of Venice

Auden, W.H. "Belmont and Venice." Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Merchant of Venice. Ed. by Sylvan Barnet. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970. 113-116.

Both Shylock and Antonio are members of an acquisitive society, though Shylock hoards and Antonio is generous with money. Antonio’s goods are luxury goods (spices, silks). Neither would be comfortable in Belmont, full of music and masques (disguises). Thus at the end of the play, it is logical that we see Antonio left outside Portia’s house, not through being excluded but by his own choice. Belmont’s a timeless world; Venice, governed by time. Looking at lovers, none seems particularly self-sacrificing. Jessica and Lorenzo waste Shylock’s money. Portia and Bassanio are generous, but with her father’s money. Lorenzo and Jessica talk of star-crossed lovers, none of whom risked for others. Only Shylock and Antonio, those excluded from Belmont, really risked. **

Topics covered: money (generosity/stinginess), Belmont/Venice, lovers

Barber, C.L. "The Merchants and the Jew of Venice: Wealth’s Communion and an Intruder." Twentieth Merchant. 11-32. also found in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Ed. by Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967. 204-227.

Barber calls Merchant of Venice another festival play with wealth being what is celebrated. England in the 1540’s was becoming more wealthy and thus associating itself with Venice. Shylock represents the anxiety about money that puts people at odds. London also had those who were suspicious of the profit motive. So Shylock is the antagonist not because he is a Jew (not for his religion), but because of his relationship to money. In festival terms, Shylock plays the scapegoat. The main question in whether the baffling of Shylock is melodramatic or meaningful. [As an interesting aside, he discusses the eating motif where Shylock wants to feast upon Antonio (2.5.14-5) but won’t eat with him.] The play dramatizes what use can be made of money vs. simply having or hoarding it. There is no incompatibility between love and money, nor between beauty and money. Belmont contrasts the reckoning world of Venice with transcendence. Barber believes the song that Portia has played before Bassanio chooses a casket contains no signal. Antonio’s loan to Bassanio is venture capital because not secured. He says Bassanio turns away from gold and silver because money is not used to get money (that is usurer’s way). Antonio risks his body; Bassanio risks himself (his right to procreate). Barber compares Shakespeare’s presentation of a Jew on the stage with Marlowe’s Barabbas, who poisons his own daughter. Shylock’s pathos in "Hath not a Jew eyes?" converts to menace by the end of the speech. Barber compares the speech to Richard’s "I live with bread like you" (3.2). Shylock’s view that revenge inevitably follows being wronged in a stimulus/response way does not allow for free will, for forgiveness. Barber compares Shylock to Iago but Shylock is outside the community/Iago inside trying to discredit it. [mine: Shylock is also like Richard II in his rollercoaster emotions in his conversation with Tubal]. Portia’s legalism breaks through Shylock’s and thus is he defeated. Barber explains the contrast between Old Testament legalism and New Testament grace. Shakespeare scrupulously adheres to principles of law—does not undercut the social order. Rings plot proves "human relationships are stronger than their outward signs" (28). ***

Topics covered: Belmont/Venice, characters, Old/New Testament, money

Barnet, Sylvan. "Introduction." Twentieth Merchant. 1-10.

Those who see Merchant of Venice as a comedy are looking at its overall structure. Those who read more closely see the tragedy of being Jewish in Venice. Barnet recommends taking both views. There was no "Jewish problem" in Shakespeare’s day as the Jews had all been banished. So, Shakespeare was not trying to deal with non-assimilation of Jews. Merchant of Venice can also be seen as a fairy tale (3 caskets, loss of ships and miraculous recovery). It is hard to sum up the plot into coherent/unified themes. Barnet claims Merchant of Venice is about giving and risking. Why make Shylock a Jew? Perhaps it was due to the Elizabethan preconception that Jews were not generous. Barnet claims Shylock does not risk as a merchant does when he sends ships to sea but is assured by his bond. In Shakespeare’s day the view that the Jews were condemned in the Bible still prevailed. He compares Merchant of Venice to other Shakespeare plays written at the same time that included a "spoil sport," who gets his comeuppance" like Malvolio. **

Topics covered: comedy/tragedy, Shylock

Brown, John Russell. "Love’s Wealth and the Judgment of The Merchant of Venice." Twentieth Merchant. 81-90.

Brown claims Merchant of Venice was the "most completely informed by Shakespeare’s ideal of love’s wealth" (81), where giving is more important than getting or gaining Antonio begins the giving and hazarding all for love of Bassanio when he agrees to the pound of flesh bond. Shylock tries to "get what he deserves" in insisting on his bond (and also gets a fool’s head). Brown explains Bassanio’s line "to give and to receive" as definition of exchange in commerce (thus Bassanio brings mercantilism of Venice to Belmont). Even Lorenzo/Jessica pairing fits theme; they squander but are generous with love as with money. *

Topics covered: risk, Venice/Belmont

Coghill, Nevill. "The Theme of The Merchant of Venice." Twentieth Merchant. 108-112.

Coghill argues that the title page of Merchant of Venice seems to justify an anti-Semitic approach to the theme, but the lines of the play do not. Since to assume Shakespeare did not know his business is ludicrous, we should seek elsewhere for the theme and he identifies Mercy vs. Justice as the theme. Using medieval texts of Piers Plowman and Castle of Perseverance, he shows Shakespeare was dealing with the same question of Old Testament vs. New Testament law. This makes both Jew and Gentile right and Old Testament (law) vs. New (mercy) is only in conflict because of our more limited understanding as mere mortals. Coghill calls the reversal in Act IV an excellent example of the dramatic peripeteia (reversal of fortune), where Mercy had been supplicant to Justice, but now Justice must beg Mercy. He calls Shylock’s forced conversion another example of Mercy—Antonio giving Shylock the possibility of eternal life as he believes it to be. The last act then makes more sense with Lorenzo and Jessica (Christian and Jew) in each other’s arms talking of music, Shakespeare’s symbol of harmony. **

Topics covered: mercy/justice, sources, Shylock, Christian vs. Jew

Danson, Lawrence. The Harmonies of The Merchant of Venice. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978.

Granville-Barker, Harley. "The Merchant of Venice." Twentieth Merchant. 55-80. also in Modern Essays. 37-71.

Granville-Barker sees Merchant of Venice as a fairy tale. We are to see Shylock’s bond like the threat of the Giant in "Jack and the Beanstalk." But Shakespeare’s genius is that he finds the reality in even fantastic characters; thus he combines realism and imagination. Two different time frames exist in Venice and Belmont: three months must pass, but it doesn’t take Bassanio that long to get to Belmont, and he wants to choose right away. Shakespeare goes by dramatic (psychological) time. Would Rosalind or Juliet have gone by the caskets? Granville-Barker analyzes why Shakespeare gave Morocco two scenes and Bassanio only one at Belmont. Granville-Barker also dismisses the idea that Portia would hint at the right answer with the rhymes to "lead." He claims that when Bassanio learns of Antonio’s plight in Venice, the scene changes "from dramatic convention to dramatic life" (60). Shakespeare doesn’t need to use verbal pictures to describe Venice at the beginning of the play; he relies on the conventional view in the Elizabethan mind. He does describe the moonlit Belmont at the end. Solario and Salarino are compared to Rosencrantz and Gildenstern as the worst bores in Shakespeare. He thinks Portia keeps Antonio free of the quarrel over the rings [I disagree]. He compares Shylock to Othello and says Shylock might have been humanized even more by the more mature Shakespeare (had the play been written later in his career). He says Portia trapped Shylock; Shylock is caught in the letter of the law "with no more right to a cord with which to hang himself than had Antonio to a bandage for his wound. . . . Something of the villainy the Jew taught them, the Christians will now execute" (79). **

Topics covered: characters, language, Belmont/Venice

Gross, John. Shylock: Four Hundred Years in the Life of a Legend. London: Chatto & Windus, 1992.

* Hankey, Julie. "Victorian Portias: Shakespeare’s Borderline Heroine." Shakespeare Quarterly 45.4 (Winter 1994): 426-448.

Hankey differentiates Portia from other Shakespearean heroines in that she reacts more intellectually than emotionally to situations. She analyzes how Victorian men and women interpreted the character of Portia. *

Topics covered: Portia

Kaplan, M. Lindsay, ed. William Shakespeare. The Merchant of Venice: Text and Context. New York: Bedford, 2002.

In addition to the text and an introduction to the play, the editor provides treatises from the Renaissance on issues raised by the play. For example, in discussing the debate on the usury bill, Kaplan explains the shift in attitude on charging interest on loans. Most thought it was morally wrong but legally those charging less than 10% per year were not arrested by the state. One interesting argument was that by lending money, merchants were not using it to buy goods so the Queen lost out on her tax on duties levied on goods. Another argument was that it raised the price of goods. A usurer was not considered a good witness (was not considered truthful). However, someone else argued that usury was fine used with strangers only. Many seemed inclined to not allow usury because it was not expressly approved of in the Bible—in other words, we should err on the side of caution. She provides the usury bill itself and explained its history, having been passed under Henry VIII, repealed under Edward VI, and reestablished under Elizabeth I. At that point any loan charging more than 10% was considered void and anyone trying to charge more could be judged and punished. There are also sections discussing the attitude toward Jews, toward women, and toward marriage. *

Topics covered: usury, Jews, women, marriage

Kermode, Frank. "Some Themes in The Merchant of Venice." Twentieth Merchant. 97-99.

Kermode connect the often used "gentle" with "gentile" in Merchant of Venice. Portia’s gentleness reflects a mind of love; Shylock’s mind is the opposite. Shylock’s example of Jacob shows he sees no difference between usury and breeding sheep (breeding metal was a common charge against usurers). With the caskets the breeding metals (gold and silver) should be rejected. Kermode analyzes the song about appearance vs. reality. Bassanio wins his fleece at the same moment we learn Antonio has lost his (fleets). We must satisfy justice before mercy can be rendered. Kermode claims Act V’s music reflect "universal harmony impaired by sin and restored by the Redemption" (100). So the main theme of Merchant of Venice is judgment, redemption and mercy. **

Topics covered: Shylock, caskets, mercy/justice

Knight, G. Wilson. "The Ideal Production." Twentieth Merchant. 91-96.

Knight extols the need to take Merchant of Venice seriously even if it doesn’t present surface realism. He contrasts Venice and Belmont. He doesn’t see the comedy either in characters like Gratiano or situations in Venice and claims "Shylock towers over the rest" (91) even if he is unlikable. People become noble in Belmont. Belmont is the place of music. Though there is some music in Venice, the masque doesn’t come off and Shylock complains about the sound of the music. Knight claims Portia dominates Belmont as Shylock does Venice. He makes suggestions for staging. Portia’s role is to show money is only one aspect of life. Laws are made for money. Money can be divided but not life. Knight claims the trial scene is the climax. *

Topics covered: Venice/Belmont, Portia

Lewalski, Barbara K. "Biblical Allusion and allegory in The Merchant of Venice." Twentieth Merchant. 33-54.

The critical questions are these—was Shakespeare anti-Semitic? is Shylock a persecuted hero or comic butt? Lewalski cites Nevill Coghill’s view that Merchant of Venice has medieval comic form, beginning in trouble, ending in joy and also that Merchant of Venice can be seen as a debate between Mercy and Justice (2 of the 4 daughters of God). Most critics who look at Christian symbolism concentrate on Act IV, not the entire play. Lewalski claims Shakespeare’s pattern of allusion pervasive to medieval Biblical allegory. He explicates Merchant of Venice using Dante’s 4 levels of allegorical meaning. Merchant of Venice illustrates Christian love which is represented by giving and forgiving. He connects lines from the play to lines in the Bible. He illustrates the predictions Shakespeare built into the play about Shylock’s forced conversion. Even the caskets can be seen as allegorizing Christian love and the choice of spiritual life and goodness contrasts Portia’s "I stand for sacrifice" (which could have 2 meanings—as victim or as one doing the sacrificing) with Shylock’s "I stand for law." Lewalski associates Act IV with the Parliament of Heaven in which all men are judged. Balthazar (the name Portia takes in her disguise) was the name given to the prophet Daniel in the Book of Daniel; Daniel in the Bible was the most Christian-like of prophets, extolling the virtue of mercy. Shylock’s conversion reinforces the Christian conviction that Law leads to death and destruction; the only way to salvation in through a belief in Christ (or conversion for Shylock). When a Jew converted to Christianity in Europe or England, he often had to forfeit half his goods to the state (as ill-gotten gains of usury). **

Topics covered: Old/New Testament, Biblical references, characters

Moody, A.D. "An Ironic Comedy." Twentieth Merchant. 100-107.

Moody argues against Kermode’s view that love and mercy supercede justice but sees Merchant of Venice as a "parody of heavenly harmony and love" (101). The subject is the same but Moody claims Shakespeare treats the issues in an ironic way, that Christians act in most unchristian like ways; they assume unworldliness to gain a worldly power over Shylock. The play is too subtle and complex to be seen in simple terms of good and evil. Christians are very worldly, talking and thinking about money. Moody traces common etymology between mercenary and money to merces (meaning reward or fee), both spoken by Portia. The main theme of appearance vs. reality should be applied to Portia as well. Moody claims "the controlling viewpoint is not that of the eye of Heaven, but that of enlightened human feeling" (104). He explains why he agrees with John Russell Brown that Merchant of Venice has always been Shylock’s play: "Where the Christians speak with quibbling wit or rhetoric, filtering emotion through artifice, Shylock’s speech is directly responsive to his burden of personal and racial experience, with the result that his humanity is so much more fully present to us" (105). So lesser (more superficial) beings triumph over the one "whose end is inseparable from his larger humanity" (105). There are two different kinds of justice resolved by the irony. **

Topics covered: Shylock, mercy/justice, language, Portia

Moody, A.D. "An Ironic Comedy." Twentieth Merchant. 100-107.

Moody argues against Kermode’s view that love and mercy supercede justice but sees Merchant of Venice as a "parody of heavenly harmony and love" (101). The subject is the same but Moody claims Shakespeare treats the issues in an ironic way, that Christians act in most unchristian like ways; they assume unworldliness to gain a worldly power over Shylock. The play is too subtle and complex to be seen in simple terms of good and evil. Christians are very worldly, talking and thinking about money. Moody traces common etymology between mercenary and money to merces (meaning reward or fee), both spoken by Portia. The main theme of appearance vs. reality should be applied to Portia as well. Moody claims "the controlling viewpoint is not that of the eye of Heaven, but that of enlightened human feeling" (104). He explains why he agrees with John Russell Brown that Merchant of Venice has always been Shylock’s play: "Where the Christians speak with quibbling wit or rhetoric, filtering emotion through artifice, Shylock’s speech is directly responsive to his burden of personal and racial experience, with the result that his humanity is so much more fully present to us" (105). So lesser (more superficial) beings triumph over the one "whose end is inseparable from his larger humanity" (105). There are two different kinds of justice resolved by the irony. **

Topics covered: Shylock, mercy/justice, language, Portia

Moody, A.D. "An Ironic Comedy." Twentieth Merchant. 100-107.

Moody argues against Kermode’s view that love and mercy supercede justice but sees Merchant of Venice as a "parody of heavenly harmony and love" (101). The subject is the same but Moody claims Shakespeare treats the issues in an ironic way, that Christians act in most unchristian like ways; they assume unworldliness to gain a worldly power over Shylock. The play is too subtle and complex to be seen in simple terms of good and evil. Christians are very worldly, talking and thinking about money. Moody traces common etymology between mercenary and money to merces (meaning reward or fee), both spoken by Portia. The main theme of appearance vs. reality should be applied to Portia as well. Moody claims "the controlling viewpoint is not that of the eye of Heaven, but that of enlightened human feeling" (104). He explains why he agrees with John Russell Brown that Merchant of Venice has always been Shylock’s play: "Where the Christians speak with quibbling wit or rhetoric, filtering emotion through artifice, Shylock’s speech is directly responsive to his burden of personal and racial experience, with the result that his humanity is so much more fully present to us" (105). So lesser (more superficial) beings triumph over the one "whose end is inseparable from his larger humanity" (105). There are two different kinds of justice resolved by the irony. **

Topics covered: Shylock, mercy/justice, language, Portia

Moody, A.D. "An Ironic Comedy." Twentieth Merchant. 100-107.

Moody argues against Kermode’s view that love and mercy supercede justice but sees Merchant of Venice as a "parody of heavenly harmony and love" (101). The subject is the same but Moody claims Shakespeare treats the issues in an ironic way, that Christians act in most unchristian like ways; they assume unworldliness to gain a worldly power over Shylock. The play is too subtle and complex to be seen in simple terms of good and evil. Christians are very worldly, talking and thinking about money. Moody traces common etymology between mercenary and money to merces (meaning reward or fee), both spoken by Portia. The main theme of appearance vs. reality should be applied to Portia as well. Moody claims "the controlling viewpoint is not that of the eye of Heaven, but that of enlightened human feeling" (104). He explains why he agrees with John Russell Brown that Merchant of Venice has always been Shylock’s play: "Where the Christians speak with quibbling wit or rhetoric, filtering emotion through artifice, Shylock’s speech is directly responsive to his burden of personal and racial experience, with the result that his humanity is so much more fully present to us" (105). So lesser (more superficial) beings triumph over the one "whose end is inseparable from his larger humanity" (105). There are two different kinds of justice resolved by the irony. **

Topics covered: Shylock, mercy/justice, language, Portia

Rabkin, Norman. Shakespeare and the Problem of Meaning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.

Shapiro, James. Shakespeare and the Jews. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.

Much Ado About Nothing

Crick, John. "Messina." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Much Ado about Nothing. Ed. by Walter R. Davis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969. 33-38.

*Davis, Walter R., Ed. "Introduction." Twentieth Much Ado. 1-17.

This book also includes viewpoints by Goddard, Dorothy C. Hockey, A.P. Rossiter, W.H. Auden, James A.S. CmPeek, James Smith, Walter N. King, John Palmer, Northrop Frye, and Wylie Sypoher.

Fergusson, Francis. "Rituial and Insight." Twentieth Much Ado. 54-59.

Horowitz, David. "Imagining the Real." Twentieth Much Ado 39-53.

Hunter, Robert Grams. "Forgiving Claudio." Twentieth Much Ado. 60-66.

McCollom, William G. "The Role of Wit in Much Ado about Nothing." Twentieth Much Ado. 67-79.

Story, Graham. "The Success of Much Ado about Nothing." Twentieth Much Ado. 18-32.

Thomson, Virgil. "Music for Much Ado about Nothing." Twentieth Much Ado. 88-95.

Wey, James J. "’To Grace Harmony’: Musical Design in Much Ado about Nothing." Twentieth Much Ado. 80-87.

Othello

*Heilman, Robert B. Magic in the Web: Action and Language in Othello. Lexington, KE: University of Kentucky Press, 1956.

Richard II

Altick, Richard D. "Symphonic Imagery in Richard II." Publications of the Modern Language Association 62 (1947): 339-365. also found in Twentieth Century Interpretations of Richard II. Ed. By Paul M. Cubeta. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971. 66-81.

There is a unity of tone, like a musical composition, in Richard II. This comes from Shakespeare’s control of words, language, and imagery. But this only happens because Shakespeare is aware of the emotional overtones of words (beyond just wit). Shakespeare uses certain words like leitmotifs throughout the play (like word "world" in Antony and Cleopatra). In Richard II such words are "earth," "land," "ground"—related ideas of garden/soil. Blood is another term (referring to kingship relationship more than to murder or death), also "sun," "tongue" (mouth, speech, word) and eventually the word "bankrupt" [and "nothing"]. Altick claims Richard II is a turning point between verbal wit of early plays and more mature image-themes of latter plays. In Richard II the use of language is still conventional, showing Shakespeare’s affection for words for their own sake, not yet achieving the expressionism of meaning through a single bold metaphor as will be achieved later. But Shakespeare has begun well here. **

Topics covered: language, imagery

Barkan, Leonard. "The Theatrical Consistency of Richard II." Shakespeare Quarterly 29 (1978): 5-19.

This book discusses the texture and effects of the play.

*Cavanagh, Dermot. "The Language of Treason in Richard II." Shakespeare Studies 134 (Annual 1999): find pages 33 pages.

*Cubeta, Paul M. "Introduction." Twentieth Richard II. 1-12.

Is Richard II a history or a tragedy play? Cubeta says Shakespeare seems to have learned from the first tetralogy, ending in Richard III that the plays are more successful if they focus on a single strong central character. The theme is the nature of kingship. Richard II (written after Richard III) is hardly a Machiavellian king, but still probably believed (as espoused in Mirror for Magistrates) that history could teach lessons. Cubeta reminds us that when Richard II was written, Elizabeth I was within six years of her death in 1603, and she had been queen for thirty-four years, and she had not married nor produced or designated an heir, creating fear over her succession. He also recounted the origin of the "Tudor Myth." Shakespeare’s play Richard II was performed by request two days before the ill-fated Essex rebellion against Elizabeth on Feb 7, 1601. Cubeta is arguing that Richard II was interpreted allegorically by Shakespeare’s contemporaries, but he contends it was not written as allegory. Gaunt’s speech has been misunderstood as idealistically patriotic Richard’s disorder is set against Bolingbroke’s rebellion [two wrongs that do not make a right]. Departure, banishment, loss are pervasive motifs. Gaunt’s demi-paradise seems unrevivable. The rise and fall imagery does not result in political success, and the opening and closing scenes have too many parallels to signal a happy ending. The language of Richard II is heavy with depression words (dissolute, despair, depressed, dishonor, depose. Shakespeare shows self knowledge is paramount. Cubeta admires Richard at the end of the play **

Topics covered: Tudor myth, allegory, kingship, language

Dean, Leonard F. "From Richard II to Henry V: A Closer View." Modern Essays. 188-205. also found in Twentieth Richard II. 58-65.

Traditional belief was that Shakespeare based his second tetralogy on the Tudor myth as professed in Hall’s chronicles. Dean claims Shakespeare goes beyond naiveté of popular history to more profound insights. Richard begins in spectacle; private scenes contrast, show weaknesses of Richard as king. Irony exists when a ruler is also murderer, but in such a world wise counsel like Gaunt’s falls on deaf ears. Richard is a bit of an actor, always wanting to an audience. Richard plays with his role of king as Gaunt played with his name in Act II. Those around him go from tolerance to impatience and resentment. Richard’s emotional language is contrasted to York’s accommodations and Bolingbroke’s Machiavellian speech—literal, carefully public and politic. Dean likens Richard to Shakespeare’s tragic heroes in the violence and hyperbole of their speeches. Richard’s neurosis is like Hamlet’s madness. Shakespeare’s play is neither Richard’s view of rebellion and treason nor Bolingbroke’s of restoration of legal rights, but much more complex and ambiguous morally. Dean claims neither Bolingbroke nor Richard free of confining ironies. **

Topics covered: Tudor myth, language, characters

*Forker, R. "Unstable Identity in Shakespeare’s Richard II." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 54.1 (Fall 2001): 3-21.

Healy, Margaret. William Shakespeare’s Richard II. Plymouth, England: Northcote House, 1998.

Kastan, David Scott. "Proud Majesty Made a Subject: Shakespeare and the Spectable of Rule." Shakespeare Quarterly 37 (1986): 459-75.

Kernan, Alvin B. "The Henriad: Shakespeare’s Major History Plays." Twentieth Richard II. 107-115.

The four plays in the Henriad are all epic in nature, showing England’s change from the time of Richard II to Henry V, the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, feudalism and the Great Chain of Being to national state and individualism, a garden world to a fallen world, ceremony and ritual to history. Richard II is an innocent. Richard uncrowning himself in Act IV destroys the values and rituals of his reign. Civil War within the York family is a comic counterpoint to the growing rebellion of Bolingbroke’s early supporters. Richard is not the only one whose name and role change; Bolingbroke’s also does often: from Hereford, to Lancaster, to Henry IV. *

Topics covered: contrasts in world views, characters

Kott, Jan. "The Kings." Twentieth Richard II. 98-106.

Kott claims in Richard II can be seen the raw material of later tragedies. Readers or viewers of Shakespeare’s plays interpret them through their own experiences. Modern audiences are closer in appreciation to Shakespeare’s own audiences than those of the 19th Century. Kott says for Shakespeare, time stands still and all his histories end where they began with recurring circles for each king’s reign. Each begins with struggle for the throne or its consolidation, ends with death of the king or a new coronation. Each king is flawed. Steps to power are marked by violence, murder. Each contender believes he is defending a violated law but ends up turning against former allies. Kott comments on similarities of names (Richard, Henry, Edward) and titles (York, Clarence). The crown is the symbol of power. Act IV of Richard II –the abdication scene was omitted in all editions of the play in Queen Elizabeth I’s time. Richard plays look forward to Hamlet. *

Topics covered: kingship, parallels

Ribner, Irving. "The Historical Richard." Twentieth Richard II. 13-14.

Ribner points out the differences in world views between Richard II’s medieval day and Shakespeare’s Renaissance. In Richard’s day the king was responsible to the lords of the realm (hence King John could be forced to sign the Magna Carta) but responsible to God alone by the Tudor time. The real Richard came to the throne at age 11 after Edward III dies since Edward the Black Prince (Richard’s father) had already died. Gaunt was the effectual ruler until he left to fight Spain, when Richard’s Uncle Gloucester took over, but Gloucester was scheming rather than the sympathetic martyr Shakespeare portrays him as. Gloucester intrigues against Richard and is caught and killed, probably by one Lapoole [not Mowbray]. *

Topics covered: allegory, history

Ribner, Irving. "The Political Problem in Shakespeare’s Lancastrian Tetralogy." Twentieth Richard II. 29-40.

Shakespeare was a dramatist but in the history plays also functioned as an historian. Shakespeare’s genius was that he could see all sides of an issue, but Shakespeare did take a stand on political questions raised by the conflict between Richard and Bolingbroke. He summarizes Tillyard and Campbell’s view that Shakespeare was examining the Tudor myth that preached that the deposition of Richard was a great crime resulting in the War of the Roses, but that the ascension of the Tudors created order. In this view rebellion is the worst possible crime against the state. Ribner claims Shakespeare’s Richard II was not a completely orthodox presentation of the Tudor myth. He sees good resulting from the deposition of Richard—in plays from Richard II to Henry V (written together and after the Henry VI to Richard III plays). In a footnote Ribner cites Evelyn May Albright’s PMLA article in which she states Shakespeare may have favored Essex’s rebellion plot against Elizabeth as his patron Earl of Southampton did. The 2nd tetralogy culminates in the glorious victories of Henry V. Richard II explores Shakespeare’s view of the ideal king. When Shakespeare wrote Richard II what the country feared most was the possible ascension of a weak king (like Richard). Richard is a failure as a king because he lacks public virtues. Ribner cited Hiram Haydn’s view that in Richard II Shakespeare contrasts two world views: Christian idealism and new skeptical materialism (Counter-Renaissance)—like the Machiavellian view. Parallel actions in the play show Bolingbroke a master in action [shows how Beggar and the King scene is essential for parallels]. Ribner says in Richard II, Shakespeare "discovered tragedy of character. For he makes Richard the author of his own downfall" (35). Contrast in Richard is between hereditary right to rule and proven ability to govern. In Henry IV there is a similar situation, a rebellion against the king but Shakespeare sides with Henry. Ribner cited Hal’s speech to his father on Henry IV’s death bed that he maintains kingship is rightfully his. It was Bolingbroke’s ability, not his lineage, that gave him the right to the throne. Hal proves himself equal in Henry V when he effectively deals with the rebellion of Cambridge. Shakespeare then modified the Tudor myth—ability is more important than heredity. ***

Topics covered: Richard, kingship, parallels

Saccio, Peter. Shakespeare’s English Kings. New York: Oxford University Press, 2nd Ed. 2000.

Stirling, Brents. "’Up, Cousin, Up; Your Heart Is Up, I Know.’" Twentieth Richard II. 91-97.

Richard casts himself into the martyr role by embracing the need for abdication before he is deposed. But thus Richard keeps control of the Flint Castle scene. This also creates ambiguity about Bolingbroke’s motives, but Stirlilng claims the Elizabethan audience might have taken Bolingbroke’s ambition as a given. He also suggests Bolingbroke’s actions speak in place of his words to create the situation in which Richard’s fate is sealed. Stirling claims plot construction, political situation, and characterizations all illustrate parallel ironies in the Flint Castle scene. All culminates in Richard’s line about the necessity to go to London. Later as "London" is short hand for deposition and coronation of Henry IV, Bolingbroke’s line at the end of Act IV to convey Richard to the tower is symbolic of imprisonment and death. **

Topics covered: characters, foils, Act III

Tillyard, E.M.W. "Richard II." Modern Essays. 167-187. also in Twentieth Richard II. 15-28.

Richard II is the most formal and ceremonial of all Shakespeare’s plays. Even language is often formal couplets. Tillyard analyzes formality of Richard’s last speech. Shakespeare’s audience was more attuned to symbolism (of the Gardener’s speeches) than modern audience. Act II.iv explained an elaborate allegory of the state of England under Richard. Tillyard claims that in the world of Richard II, means matter more than ends, how the game is played is more important than who wins. Richard’s speech about sad stories on the death of kings is reminiscent of Chaucer’s "Monk’s Tale." Language reflects the contrast of two ways of life—the old order of the Plantagenants to the newer order of Henry IV. But the newer order is more passionate, yet not developed fully in Richard II. Tillyard says Richard II "possesses a dominant theme and contains within itself the elements of those different things that are to be the themes of its successors" (26). **

Topics covered: language, symbolism, ceremony

Traversi, Derek. "Richard II." Twentieth Richard II. 41-57.

Shakespeare is concerned in this play with distinguishing truth from fiction—showing the limitations of traditional view of kingship. The formality of the opening scenes is contrasted with passions. Gaunt’s "royal throne of kings" speech is likened to formality of language in the early part of the play. Traversi associates Gaunt with the old world of Edward III. Richard’s world has inner hollowness. Gaunt’s point is that an order is passing which Richard’s authority cannot maintain. The interchange between Richard and Gaunt illustrates connectivity of themes of flattery and truth, health and sickness, life and death. Bolingbroke’s return is both rebellion and a necessary act for the restoration of the right use of authority [in support of the Law of Primogenitor]. Richard’s importance is contrasted to Bolingbroke’s purpose. Personally and professionally, Richard is not able to deal with Bolingbroke. Richard is a tragic sentimentalist. The "death of kings" speech illustrates true tragedy but also the sense of insignificance of the pomp of royalty. Richard’s self-pity is conscious artifice. Shakespeare explores the theme of "nothingness" in Richard’s speech at the abdication. Act IV is an example of Shakespeare’s ability to use literary artifice as a means for self-analysis in Richard’s examination of the difference between show (shadow) and substance (grief). ***

Topics covered: two world views, language, characters

Ure, Peter. "Introduction to Richard II." Twentieth Richard II. 82-90.

This play contrasts Richard as ineffectual ruler with Bolingbroke as efficient one. But Richard as a characters is much better explored (ambiguity is politic for Bolingbroke). And Shakespeare does not expose Bolingbroke’s motivations. York expresses the sense of suffering through faith in his helplessness of divinely ordained right in the face of a more powerful wrong. Richard’s suffering comes from the paradox of a rightful king without power to support his title. But we see Richard as tragic because of his deficiencies as king. Ure claims Richard was neither an actor nor a poet ["not helpful to say he is playing the part of a fallen king when he is a fallen king" (86)]. Richard is in control, sets the scenes up at the beginning of the play; Bolingbroke, at the end. Yet Bolingbroke might have wanted to control deposition as he did executions of favorites, yet Richard does not play his part but instead grabs center state. The mirror in Act IV reflects vanity and truth. **

Topics covered: comparison of characters, language

Sonnets

Auden, W. H. "Introduction." Shakespeare: The Sonnets. New York: Signet Classics, 1988. xvii-xxxix.

Barnet, Sylvan. "Prefatory Remarks." Shakespeare: The Sonnets. New York: Signet Classics, 1988. vii-xvi.

Bevington, Craig. "Sonnets." Compete Works of Shakespeare. 1612-16.

Booth, Stephen. An Essay on Shakespeare's Sonnets. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1969.

Combellack, C. R. B. "Shakespeare's Sonnet 116." Explicator 41.1 (Fall 1982): 12-14.

Cruttwell, Patrick. "Shakespeare’s Sonnets and the 1590’s." Modern. 110-140.

Dubrow, Heather. Captive Visitors: Shakespeare's Narrative Poems and Sonnets. Ithica: Cornell Univ. Press, 1987.

Ferry, Anne Davidson. The "Inward" Language: Sonnets of Wyatt, Sidney, Shakepseare, Donne. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1983.

Finneman, Joel. Shakespeare’s Perjured Eye: The Invention of Poetic Subjectivity in the Sonnets. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1986.

Fontana, Ernest. "Shakespeare's Sonnet 55." Explicator 45.3 (Spring 1987): 6-8.

Harrison, James. "Shakespeare's Sonnet 129." Explicator 47.4 (Summer 1989): 6-7.

Herrnstein, Barbara, ed. Discussions of Shakespeare's Sonnets. New York, 1964.

Howell, Mark. "Shakespeare's Sonnet 18." Explicator 40.3 (Spring 1982): 12.

Hubler, Edward. The Sense of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1952.

Hubler, Edward, et al. The Riddle of Shakespeare's Sonnets. New York: Basic Books, 1962.

Ingram, W. G., and Theodore Redpath, eds. Shakespeare's Sonnets. 3rd impression. London: Hodder and stoughton, 1978.

Krieger, Murray. A Window to Criticism: Shakespeare's Sonnets and Modern Poetics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964.

Landry, Hilton. Interpretations of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964.

Leishman, J. B. Themes and Variations in Shakespeare's Sonnets. London: , 1961.

McRae, William. "Shakespeare's Sonnet 29." Explicator 46.1 (Fall 1987): 6-8.

Muir, Kenneth. Shakespeare's Sonnets. London: Allen and Unwin, 1979.

Nicoll, Allardyce, ed. Shakespeare Survey 15. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962.

Robertson, J. M. The Problems of Shakespeare's Sonnets. London: , 1926.

Rollins, Hyder, E., ed. A new Variorum Edition of Shakespeare: the Sonnets. 2 vols. London, 1944.

Rouse, A. L. Shakespeare's Sonnets. New York:  1964.

Seymour-Smith, Martin, ed. Shakespeare's Sonnets. London: William Heinemann, .

Watson, Thomas Ramey. "Shakespeare's Sonnet 29." Explicator 45.1 (Fall 1986): 12-13.

Willen, Gerald, and Victor B. Reed. A Casebook on Shakespeare's Sonnets. New York, 1964.

Wilson, J. Dover. An Introduction to the Sonnets of Shakespeare. New York, 1964.

Twelfth Night

Barber, C.L. "Liberty Testing Courtesy." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Twelfth Night. Ed. By Walter N. King. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1968. 45-52.

Folly in Twelfth Night is of misrule. Viola is able to pull off disguise because of her courtesy. Barber reminds the reader that Van Doren compared Twelfth Night to Merchant of Venice in the creation of a world of music and melancholy. Also, he explores the comparison between Sir Toby and Falstaff. He discusses language: verse of the court vs the prose of others. Also he discusses the role of some of the more minor characters: Fabian, Maria, Malvolio. And he connects SirToby’s revelries with real life escapades of Sir Edward Dymoke. Part of Malvolio’s vice is that he wants to make Twelfth Night misrule permanent by becoming the master—again a comparison to Merchant, between Malvolio and Shylock, is made. **

Topics covered: Sir Toby, minor characters, misrule

Barnet, Sylvan. "Charles Lamb and the Tragic Malvolio." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 53-62.

Barnet focuses on Charles Lamb’s evaluation of the acting of Robert Bensky in the role of Malvolio (representative of 19th century views on acting). Bensky played Malvolio as a tragic figure, changing him from a comic figure. Most of the other 20th century critics reject this interpretation. [But Laurence Olivier’s version is also tragic in vision.] Barnet suggests Lamb may have wanted to romanticize Malvolio since his own father was a servant. -

Topics covered: Malvolio

**Charles, Casey. "Gender Trouble in Twelfth Night." Theater Journal 49 (1997): 121-141.

Charlton, H.B. "The Consummation." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 90-96.

Charlton discusses Twelfth Night as a Romantic Comedy, exhibiting traits of both genres, compares Much Ado, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, in all of which the main characters woo in non-traditional ways. Heroines represent Shakespeare’s ideal in love. Shakespeare’s men have intellect, imagination, passion, but are not in harmony with themselves; women are balanced, intuitive, responsive to emotion, witty. The women are doers and inspirers of action. Twelfth Night is concerned with the disclosure of imbalanced sentiments (like Orsino’s love and Olivia’s grief). **

Topics covered: comedy, wooing

*Dawkins, Peter. The Wisdom of Shakespeare in Twelfth Night. Warwickshire, England: I.C Media, 2002.

Downer, Alan S. "Feste’s Exposure of Orsino." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 100-101.

Feste gives us a better, more realistic view of Duke Orsino. The love song he calls for is mostly about death. Is Feste mocking Orsino? Since Orsino dismisses both Feste and the court shortly after he finishes his song, they may all have been snickering at him and his melancholy. *

Topics covered: Orsino, Feste, music

Goddard, Harold C. "The Third Degree of . . ." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 99.

All the characters (except Viola or Sebastian) are suffering from excess of something in Twelfth Night. Goddard argues against a comparison between Sir Toby and Falstaff. Sir Toby is in the 3rd degree of drink, Feste of wit, Sir Andrew of fatuity, Maria of jealousy or of cruelty. –

Topics covered: vices of minor characters

*Greif, Karen. "A Star of Born: Feste on the Modern Stage." Shakespeare Quarterly 61-78.

Hollander, John. "’Twelfth Night’ and the Moralilty of Indulgence." Modern. 228-244. also found in Twentieth Twelfth Night. 75-89.

In early 1600 comedy began to moralize more under the influence of Ben Jonson. Jonson’s characters often represented humours (vices). Shakespeare acted in John’s Every Man in his Humous and Hollander claims Twelfth Night, written a year or two later, seems to be dramatically opposed in tone. He claims Orsino’s first lines are a proem of the whole play. The eating motif is particularly important. Malvolio over-rationalizes where Orsino over-sentimentalizes; they are two opposites. M A O I probably stand for Mare, Orbis, Aer, and Ignis—the four elements. The prank played on Malvolio reflects the whole play. Feste’s last song compares to the "Seven Ages of Man" speech from As You Like It. *

Topics covered: comedy, eating

Hotson, Leslie. "Punning in Feste’s Final Song." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 105-108.

Feste’s last song is often dismissed as having a nice turn but little reason, as nonsense. But the fool’s role in the Renaissance was most often connected with ribaldry. Robert Armin’s (the actor who played Feste) presentation of this song was so popular that Shakespeare added another stanza in King Lear. Hotson discusses the sexual inferences of bauble, well-hanged, etc. He clarifies the line in King Lear where the fool says "laughs at my departure" to read "at my deporter," another word for bauble. Hotson interprets the last song to be about the levels of drunkenness. **

Topics covered: sexual innuendos, Feste, music

Hunter, G.K. "Plot and Subplot in Twelfth Night." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 97-98.

For Viola, at the beginning of the play, happiness is unlikely to be fulfilled so Patience on a Monument is appropriate. Hunter claims Orsino and Olivia are in part to blame for the vices of Malvolio and Sir Toby. None of the characters want to be known for what they are. It is not just a golden time because the class struggle is evident. *

Topics covered: vices, appearance vs. reality

King, Walter N. "Introduction." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 1-14.

Shakespeare was between 35 and 36 when he wrote Twelfth Night, a recognized poet with half of his plays already written. Hamlet was written shortly thereafter. Twelfth Night has underlying melancholy, desires beyond mere romantic vision, limitations of nature of human reality, but also faith in human goodness. The focus of the play is romance itself, though the plot is improbable (separation of shipwrecked twins reunited at the end), mistaken identity. Shakespeare both spoofs and embraces Petrarchan, Neoplatonic, Ovidian conventions of love. The world of holiday is balanced against the workaday world. The comedies of the 90’s were romantic in tone, realistic in essence. Death is not ignored (Feste’s song "Come Away Death") but certainly not central as in Hamlet. Shakespeare refuses to be reductive, shows ambiguity in characters. King claims Twelfth Night is about changing perspectives which are enlightening for main characters, not so for minor characters. King discusses the duality of Cesario who is both Viola and Sebastian; "A natural perspective that is and is not" is illustrated throughout. The play begins with excess (reference to Lord of Misrule). Sir Toby and Malvolio are two opposites in excess. Orsino and Olivia discover what love is by reaching out to and being changed by Cesario’s perspective on love. Who one is depends on what one wants. Wit (reason employed with integrity) is the opposite of will (desire, intention). Olivia and Orsino fall in love with character traits, not physical ones. The play opens outward to a variety of interpretations, explains festival atmosphere of the 12th night ceremony but also is preparatory for Epiphany—order. ***

Topics covered: romance vs comedy, world view, perspective or point of view

Ko, Yu Jin. "The Comic Close of Twelfth Night and Viola’s Noli me Tangere." Shakespeare Quarterly 48.4 (Winter 1997): 392-405.

Ko compares Viola’s refusal to embrace Sebastian at the end of the play to Mary Magdelene’s first view of Christ after He rose and not being able to touch Him, suggesting both the pain of not embracing and joy in the meeting. *

Topics covered: Christian symbolism

Leech, Clifford. "Twelfth Night, or What Delights You." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 70-74.

By defining tragedy as "a view of the universe in which man’s sureness of defeat is seen at odds with his magnitude of spirit," we can easily see why he refutes Lamb’s view that Malvolio is a tragic figure and asserts that Twelfth Night must be seen as comedic. He compares Malvolio to Parolles from All’s Well. Also, Antonio’s sense of failed friendship is a parallel to Valentine and Proteus in Two Gentlemen of Verona. Twelfth Night will not end in uniformity of happiness and this strengthens the play. *

Topics covered: comedy, Malvolio

Markels, Julian. "Shakespeare’s Confluence of Tragedy and Comedy: Twelfth Night and King Lear." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 63-69.

In the two plays Markels refers to in the title, both fools attempt to prove their "masters" foolish. Then Olivia plays the fool to correct Malvolio. Plays are also linked though the clothing metaphor. The fool in Twelfth Night succeeds in curing Malvolio while Lear’s fool does not. –

Topics covered: role of fool

Merchant, W. Moelwyn. "Theological Punning in Twelfth Night." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 104.

Merchant associates Olilvia’s tears, her "eye offending brine" with holy water. Feste often cites scripture, his interchange with Maria in which she says he provides "a good Lenten answer" plays on the church’s ceremony at Lent. –

Topics covered: religious symbolism

*Muir, Kenneth, and Sean O’Loughlin. The Voyage to Illyria. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1937.

Salinger, L.G. "The Design of Twelfth Night." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 24-30.

Does Twelfth Night vindicate romance or deprecate it? Who is the main character? These are questions Salinger wants to answer. The time of misrule informs the construction of the play. Feste is not needed for the plot but affects the other characters more than any other of Shakespeare’s fools. Everything is topsy-turvy: women are aggressive in wooing; love is folly contrasted to the wisdom of stoicism. Shakespeare plays on the audience’s view that opposition exists between love and reason, hence connecting the main plot and subplot thematically. Salinger ties Twelfth Night to its sources, shows how Shakespeare changes the source material. He calls Twelfth Night "the most subtle portrayal of the psychology of love that Shakespeare has yet drawn" (30). *

Topics covered: romance, misrule, sources

Smith, Bruce R., ed. William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. New York: Bedford, 2001.

*Smith, Peter J. "M.A.O.I. ‘What should that alphabetical position portend?’ An answer to the Metamorphic Malvolio." Renaissance Quarterly 51.4 (Winter 1998): 1199-1229.

Summers, Joseph H. "The Masks of Twelfth Night." Modern Essays. 134-143. also found in Twentieth Twelfth Night. 15-23.

Love is central to the comedies, and conflicts are presented as a battle of generalizations, but not in Twelfth Night. But characters in Twelfth Night do not know themselves at the beginning of the play—all wear masks; some are aware of them, some not. Orsino and Olivia take on poses but Summers says they really conceal boredom. Even Sebastian, who assumes no disguise, is misrecognized as Cesario. Feste is the professional masquer but he is getting old, needing to retain his mask to retain his employment. Viola wears the mask but wants to discard it later when it becomes a burden. "Virtue in disguise is only totally triumphant when evil is not in disguise" also. *

Topics covered: disguise, love

Van Doren, Mark. "Sir Toby Belch and His Milieu." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 102-103.

Sir Toby is old-fashioned and functionless, but Olivia will not turn him away. As Sir Toby resists Malvolio in "Does thou think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" he represents the old world resisting the new. Feste’s motive in participating in the jest is stated at the end, but others have no such motivations. Van Doren says Malvolio’s Puritanism offends them as a class. *

Topics covered: Malvolio, Feste, jest, Puritanism

Williams, Porter, Jr. "Mistakes in Twelfth Night and Their Resolution: A Study in Some Relationships of Plot and Theme." Twentieth Twelfth Night. 31-44.

Mistakes characters make are like Freudian slips; they reveal subconscious patterns of human behavior. This is appropriate based on the title referring to the Twelfth Night feast in which everything is topsy-turvy. Disguises and deceptions are rampant in Twelfth Night, physical disguises like Viola and Feste or psychological ones as Olivia disguised as one overwhelmed by grief, which fools only Olivia herself. Orsino also descends into love melancholy (like Romeo for Rosaline), thinking he can love only Olivia. Sebastian also part of the deception, unwittingly disguised as Cesario. Mistakes can be good—Olivia’s mistaken love for Cesario prepares her to love Sebastian. A generous spirit is associated with love. Light and dark imagery also helps reveal mistakes. Petrarchan love at first sight is possible for Olivia when she sees Sebastian because of her opening up to Cesario. These relationships are like Beatrice and Benedict in Much Ado about Nothing, stormy preparation helps us accept quick avowals of love. Viola’s "patience on a monument" speech makes her a foil to Olivia’s patient 7-year grief for her brother. Viola is also like Desdemona as she turns to follow Orsino after he has threatened to kill "him." **

Topics covered: disguise, love, imagery, foils

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