Author: Paul A. Cantor
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022646251X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309
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Book Description
Paul A. Cantor first probed Shakespeare’s Roman plays—Coriolanus, Julius Caeser, and Antony and Cleopatra—in his landmark Shakespeare’s Rome (1976). With Shakespeare’s Roman Trilogy, he now argues that these plays form an integrated trilogy that portrays the tragedy not simply of their protagonists but of an entire political community. Cantor analyzes the way Shakespeare chronicles the rise and fall of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the Roman Empire. The transformation of the ancient city into a cosmopolitan empire marks the end of the era of civic virtue in antiquity, but it also opens up new spiritual possibilities that Shakespeare correlates with the rise of Christianity and thus the first stirrings of the medieval and the modern worlds. More broadly, Cantor places Shakespeare’s plays in a long tradition of philosophical speculation about Rome, with special emphasis on Machiavelli and Nietzsche, two thinkers who provide important clues on how to read Shakespeare’s works. In a pathbreaking chapter, he undertakes the first systematic comparison of Shakespeare and Nietzsche on Rome, exploring their central point of contention: Did Christianity corrupt the Roman Empire or was the corruption of the Empire the precondition of the rise of Christianity? Bringing Shakespeare into dialogue with other major thinkers about Rome, Shakespeare’s Roman Trilogy reveals the true profundity of the Roman Plays.
Author: Paul A. Cantor
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022646895X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 233
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Book Description
For more than forty years, Paul Cantor’s Shakespeare’s Rome has been a foundational work in the field of politics and literature. While many critics assumed that the Roman plays do not reflect any special knowledge of Rome, Cantor was one of the first to argue that they are grounded in a profound understanding of the Roman regime and its changes over time. Taking Shakespeare seriously as a political thinker, Cantor suggests that his Roman plays can be profitably studied in the context of the classical republican tradition in political philosophy. In Shakespeare’s Rome, Cantor examines the political settings of Shakespeare’s Roman plays, Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra, with references as well to Julius Caesar. Cantor shows that Shakespeare presents a convincing portrait of Rome in different eras of its history, contrasting the austere republic of Coriolanus, with its narrow horizons and martial virtues, and the cosmopolitan empire of Antony and Cleopatra, with its “immortal longings” and sophistication bordering on decadence.
Author: Maurice Charney
Publisher: Cambridge, Harvard U. P
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
No detailed description available for "Shakespeare's Roman Plays".
Author: Sir Mungo William MacCallum
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 696
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Book Description
Julius Caesar. Antony and Cleopatra. Coriolanus.; Roman plays in the sixteenth century.
Author: Vivian Thomas
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000350401
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 399
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Book Description
The ‘infinite variety’ of Shakespeare’s Roman plays is reflected in the diversity of critical commentary to which they have given rise. Originally published in 1989, the distinguishing feature of this study is that it endeavours to convey a clear idea of the relationship between the characters and events in Shakespeare’s plays and the main narrative sources on which the four Roman plays are based, while simultaneously undertaking a critical analysis of the plays through the perspective of Shakespeare’s Roman worlds, particularly the creation and operation of the value system. Hence these plays are perceived as political plays, histories and tragedies.
Author: William Shakespeare
Publisher: Penguin Classics
ISBN: 9780140434613
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 678
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Book Description
In this collection each play is accompanied by notes and an introduction, making this edition of particular value to students and theatre-goers.
Author: Paul Innes
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350316989
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 130
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Book Description
Rome was a recurring theme throughout Shakespeare's career, from the celebrated Julius Caesar, to the more obscure Cymbeline. In this book, Paul Innes assesses themes of politics and national identity in these plays through the common theme of Rome. He especially examines Shakespeare's interpretation of Rome and how he presented it to his contemporary audiences. Shakespeare's depiction of Rome changed over his lifetime, and this is discussed in conjunction with the emergence of discourses on the British Empire. Each chapter focuses on a play, which is thoroughly analysed, with regard to both performance and critical reception. Shakespeare's plays are related to the theatrical culture of their time and are considered in light of how they might have been performed to his contemporaries. Innes engages strongly with both the plays the most current scholarship in the field.
Author: Patrick Gray
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474427472
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 321
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Book Description
Explores Shakespeare's representation of the failure of democracy in ancient Rome This book introduces Shakespeare as a historian of ancient Rome alongside figures such as Sallust, Cicero, St Augustine, Machiavelli, Gibbon, Hegel and Nietzsche. It considers Shakespeare's place in the history of concepts of selfhood and reflects on his sympathy for Christianity, in light of his reception of medieval Biblical drama, as well as his allusions to the New Testament. Shakespeare's critique of Romanitas anticipates concerns about secularisation, individualism and liberalism shared by philosophers such as Hannah Arendt, Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, Michael Sandel and Patrick Deneen.
Author: Sarah Hatchuel
Publisher: Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre
ISBN: 2877758427
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 393
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Book Description
Is there a specificity to adapting a Roman play to the screen ? This volume interrogates the ways directors and actors have filmed and performed the Shakespearean works known as the "Roman plays", which are, in chronological order of writing, Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus. In the variety of plays and story lines, common questions nevertheless arise. Is there such a thing as filmic "Romanness"? By exploring the different ways in which the Roman plays are re-interpreted in the light of Roman history, film history and the Shakespearean tradition, the papers in this volume all take part in the ceaseless investigation of what the plays keep saying not only about our vision of the past, but also about our perception of the present.
Author: William Shakespeare
Publisher: BoD - Books on Demand
ISBN:
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 127
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Book Description
"The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus" by William Shakespeare is a gripping and intense drama that explores themes of revenge, betrayal, and the destructive consequences of violence. Set in ancient Rome, the play follows the tragic downfall of the noble general Titus Andronicus and his family as they become embroiled in a cycle of vengeance and bloodshed. At the heart of the story is the brutal conflict between Titus Andronicus and Tamora, Queen of the Goths, whose sons are executed by Titus as retribution for their crimes. In retaliation, Tamora and her lover, Aaron the Moor, orchestrate a series of heinous acts of revenge against Titus and his family, plunging them into a spiral of madness and despair. As the body count rises and the atrocities escalate, Titus is consumed by grief and rage, leading to a climactic showdown that culminates in a shocking and tragic conclusion. Along the way, Shakespeare explores themes of honor, justice, and the nature of humanity, offering a searing indictment of the cycle of violence and the capacity for cruelty that lies within us all.
