{"product_id":"shakespearean-issues-agency-skepticism-and-other-puzzles-paperback-softback-9781512826968","title":"Shakespearean Issues; Agency, Skepticism, and Other Puzzles (Paperback \/ softback) 9781512826968","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eShakespearean Issues\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eAgency, Skepticism, and Other Puzzles\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eRichard Strier (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781512826968\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 5 November 2024\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e368 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.523 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA collection of thought-provoking essays that treat the political, social, and philosophical themes of Shakespeare's plays\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eShakespearean Issues\u003c\/i\u003e, Richard Strier has written a set of linked essays bound by a learned view of how to think about Shakespeare's plays and also how to write literary criticism on them. The essays vary in their foci—from dealing with passages and key lines to dealing with whole plays, and to dealing with multiple plays in thematic conversation with each other. Strier treats the political, social, and philosophical themes of Shakespeare's plays through recursive and revisionary close reading, revisiting plays from different angles and often contravening prevailing views.\u003cbr\u003e Part I focuses on characters. Moments of bad faith, of unconscious self-revelation, and of semi-conscious self-revelation are analyzed, along with the problem of describing characters psychologically and ethically. In an essay on \"Happy Hamlet,\" the famous melancholy of the prince is questioned, as is the villainy of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, while another essay asks the reader to reconsider moral judgments and negative assessments of characters who may be flawed but do not seem obviously wicked, such as Edgar and Gloucester in \u003ci\u003eKing Lear\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e Part II moves to systems, arguing that \u003ci\u003eHenry IV\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMeasure for Measure\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Merchant of Venice\u003c\/i\u003e raise doubts about fundamental features of legal systems, such as impartiality, punishments, and respect for contracts. Strier reveals \u003ci\u003eKing Lear\u003c\/i\u003e's radicalism, analyzing its concentration on poverty and its insistence on the existence and legitimacy of a material substratum to human life. Essays on \u003ci\u003eThe Tempest\u003c\/i\u003e offer original takes on the play's presentation of coercive power, of civilization and its discontents, and of humanist ideals. Part III turns to religious and epistemological beliefs, with Strier challenging prevailing views of Shakespeare's relation to both.\u003cbr\u003e A culminating reading sees \u003ci\u003eThe Winter's Tale\u003c\/i\u003e as ultimately affirming the mind's capacities, and as finding a place for something like religion within the world. Anyone interested in Shakespeare's plays will find \u003ci\u003eShakespearean Issues\u003c\/i\u003e bracing and thought-provoking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction: The Leading Thought\u003cbr\u003e Part I. Individuals \u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Excuses, Bepissing, and Non-Being: Shakespearean Puzzles About Agency\u003cbr\u003e Appendix. \"Say it is my humour\"\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Happy Hamlet\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Resisting Complicity: Ethical Judgment and King Lear\u003cbr\u003e Part II. Systems \u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Shakespeare and Legal Systems: The Better the Worse (but Not Vice Versa)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. King Lear and Human Needs\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. The Tempest (1): Power\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 7. The Tempest (2): Labor\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 8. The Tempest (3): Humanism\u003cbr\u003e Part III. Beliefs \u003cbr\u003e Chapter 9. Shakespeare and Skepticism (1): Religion\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 10. Shakespeare and Skepticism (2): Epistemology\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 11. Mind, Nature, Heterodoxy, and Iconoclasm in The Winter's Tale\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52681772695832,"sku":"9781512826968","price":21.56,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/shakespearean-issues-agency-skepticism-and-other-puzzles-paperback-softback-9781512826968","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}