Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Politics

Through up-to-date essays by historians, biographers, and Shakespeare critics, this Companion offers, first, a systematic examination of dominant institutions and emergent thought in Shakespeare's society, then meditation of Shakespeare's representation of these.

List of contents

1. Introduction; Part I: Early Life; 2. Stratford Politics 1550-1620; 3. Politics and Rhetoric in Grammar Schools and Beyond; 4. Out of This World: The Utopian Politics of Shakespeare Biography; Part II: Social Class; 5. Shakespeare and the People: Staging Political Economy; 6. Shakespeare and the Middle Sorts; 7. Shakespeare, the Court, and the Courtly: Drama as a Public Medium; Part III: The Critical Ferment; 8. Shakespeare and the Lucretian; 9. Shakespeare and Machiavelli; 10. Shakespeare and Montaigne and Politics; 11. Shakespeare, Radical Humanism, and Tudor Reform Movements; 12. Shakespeare, Cosmology and the Politics of Infinity; Part IV: The Theatre World; 13. The Politics of Playing Companies: Audience, Repertory, and Patron; 14. Shakespeare, Theatre and Transgression; Part V: National Politics; 15. Shakespeare and the Justice System; 16. Shakespeare and the Common Law; 17. Shakespeare, Populism and the Public Sphere; 18. Shakespeare and Religion: Against Nostalgia and Against Persecution; 19. Shakespeare and War; 20. "Enter Rumour": The Politics of Speech and Silence in Drama and Everyday Life; 21. Shakespeare and Early Capitalism; Part VI: Shakespeare in the Modern World: Political Appropriations; 22. Shakespeare and Marxism; 23. Feminist Shakespeares; 24. LGBTQ+ Shakespeares; 25. Shakespeare and Racial Capitalism; 26. Shakespeare, Anti-Colonialism, and Struggles for Social Justice; 27. Shakespeare and Ecocriticism

Product details

• Authors: Chris Fitter
• Assisted by: Fitter Chris (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 23.10.2025
• EAN: 9781032534596
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3253459-6
• No. of pages: 432
• Series: Routledge Literature Companions
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; LITERARY CRITICISM / Drama, LITERARY CRITICISM / Shakespeare, LITERARY CRITICISM / Renaissance, LITERARY CRITICISM / Subjects & Themes / Politics, Literary studies: general, Literary theory, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, Classic and pre-20th century plays, Shakespeare Plays, Literary studies: plays and playwrights