Shakespeare and Emotion

Shakespeare and Emotion gives sustained attention to emotional life as a central feature of Shakespeare's plays and poems.

Katharine A. Craik (Edited by)

9781108416160, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 October 2020

400 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.7 cm, 0.69 kg

'The essays are wide-ranging and diverse … a generous and timely contribution of scholarship.' Emily Sarah Barth, Shakespeare Quarterly

Shakespeare and Emotion devotes sustained attention to the emotions as a novel way of exploring Shakespeare's works in their original contexts. A variety of disciplinary approaches drawn from literary, theatrical, historical, cultural and film studies brings the recent upsurge of interest in affect into conversation with some of the most urgent debates in Shakespeare studies. The volume provides both a comprehensive account of the current state of scholarship and a speculative forum for new research. Its chapters outline some important contexts for understanding Shakespeare's creativity through an emotional lens – from religion, rhetoric, and medicine, to language, acting and Bollywood – and offer a range of case studies which reveal particular emotions at work. Considering emotional and passionate experience as an animating and sometimes alienating force within the plays and poems, the volume highlights the continuing importance of Shakespeare today: for our sense of who we are and who we might become.

Introduction Katharine A. Craik
Part I. Contexts: 1. Rhetoric: Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar Neil Rhodes
2. Medicine: King Lear, Macbeth, The Tempest Elizabeth D. Harvey
3. Religion: Henry VI, Henry IV, Henry V Elizabeth Williamson
4. Character: As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream Robert White
5. Inheritance and Innovation: Richard III, 3 Henry VI, Richard II, The Merchant of Venice Christopher Tilmouth
6. Communities: Julius Caesar Gail Paster
7. Audiences: Much Ado about Nothing, Measure for Measure Tanya Pollard
8. Acting: The Taming of the Shrew, Coriolanus Bridget Escolme
9. Bollywood: Macbeth, Othello Melissa Croteau
10. Language: Macbeth, King Lear Philip Davis
11. Emotional Labour: Hamlet Ross Knecht
12. Passionate Shakespeare Peter Holbrook
Part II. Emotions: 13. Fear: Macbeth, Othello Toria Johnson
14. Grief: Hamlet Erin Sullivan
15. Sympathy: Titus Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet Richard Meek
16. Shame: A Lover's Complaint, Coriolanus, The Rape of Lucrece Lesel Dawson
17. Anger: Titus Andronicus, Timon of Athens Gwynne Kennedy
18. Pride: Coriolanus Indira Ghose
19. Happiness: Othello, I Henry IV, Antony and Cleopatra Richard Strier
20. Love: Sonnets, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream David Schalkwyk
21. Nostalgia: Richard II, Henry V, Henry VI Hester Lees-Jeffries
22. Wonder: Pericles, The Tempest, 'The Phoenix and the Turtle' Tom Bishop
23. Confusion: Cymbeline, Merchant of Venice, The Winter's Tale Timothy M. Harrison.

Subject Areas: Shakespeare studies & criticism [DSGS], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]