Shakespeare on the Edge: Border-crossing in the Tragedies and the HenriadWhen Shakespeare's John of Gaunt refers to England as 'this sceptred isle', he glosses over a fact of which Shakespeare's original audience would have been acutely conscious, which was that England was not an island at all, but had land borders with Scotland and Wales. Together with the narrow channels separating the British mainland from Ireland and the continent, these were the focus of acute, if intermittent, unease during the early modern period. This book analyses works by not only Shakespeare but also his contemporaries to argue that many of the plays of Shakespeare's central period, from the second tetralogy to Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello, engage with the idea of England's borders. But borders, it claims, are not only of geopolitical significance: in Shakespeare's imagination and indeed in that of his culture, eschatological overtones also accrue to the idea of the border, not least because the countries of the Celtic fringe were often discussed in terms of the supernatural and fairy lore and, in particular, the rivers which were often used as boundary markers were invested with heavily mythologized personae. exploring the spiritual uncertainties of the period, and for speculating on what happens in 'the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns'. At the same time, the idea that a thing can only really be defined in terms of what lies beyond it provides a sharply interrogating charge for Shakespeare's use of metatheatre and for his suggestions of a world beyond the confines of his plays. |
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Page 8
... culturally collective awareness that the Renaissance itself had been temporally and culturally preceded and indeed arguably pre - empted by Greece and Rome , both possessed of enormous cultural capital but both adopting a quite ...
... culturally collective awareness that the Renaissance itself had been temporally and culturally preceded and indeed arguably pre - empted by Greece and Rome , both possessed of enormous cultural capital but both adopting a quite ...
Page 13
... cultural and political authority from Troy to Rome and ultimately to the British Isles ; as Morgan in R [ obert ] A [ rmin ] ? ' s The Valiant Welshman says of the Welsh - speaker he meets , ' God plesse vs , if he do not speake as good ...
... cultural and political authority from Troy to Rome and ultimately to the British Isles ; as Morgan in R [ obert ] A [ rmin ] ? ' s The Valiant Welshman says of the Welsh - speaker he meets , ' God plesse vs , if he do not speake as good ...
Page 36
... cultural differences between the two countries . As well as trade links and a shared past , there were also cultural links between England and Denmark . The composer John Dowland served as lutenist at the court of Christian IV of ...
... cultural differences between the two countries . As well as trade links and a shared past , there were also cultural links between England and Denmark . The composer John Dowland served as lutenist at the court of Christian IV of ...
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actually already appear argues associated become borders boundaries Britain British called Cambridge Catholic certainly choice clear clearly close course cultural death Denmark Desdemona Earl Early Modern echoes edited Edward Elizabeth Elizabethan England English fact father figure France further garden geographical George Greene Hamlet heaven Henry human Iago idea identity imagines important instance interest Ireland Irish island Isle Italy James John King Lear land landscape later Leicester literal Literature London Lord Macbeth Manchester marches Marlowe means nature never notes offers Othello Oxford particularly perhaps play points political present Prince Queen question reference remarks Renaissance Richard rivers Robert says scene Scotland Scots Scottish seems seen sense Shakespeare similar spiritual story Studies suggests things thought Tragedy turn University Press Wales wall Welsh writing