Shakespeare and Violence

by R. A. Foakes

Overview

Relating this study to current anxieties about the problem of violence, R.A. Foakes reveals how similar concerns are central in Shakespeare's plays. At first Shakespeare exploited spectacular violence for its entertainment value, but in later plays he explored a range of issues relating to war, heroism, manliness, and violence in nature as well as in human beings. This book examines the development of Shakespeare's representations of violence and explains their importance in shaping his career as a dramatist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521527439
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/19/2002
Edition description:	2003
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

R. A. Foakes is Professor Emeritus at the Department of English, UCLA.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Preface; 1. Introduction: 'Exterminate all the brutes'; 2. Shakespeare's culture of violence; 3. Shakespeare and the display of violence; 4. Plays and movies: Richard III and Romeo and Juliet; 5. Shakespeare on war: King John to Henry V; 6. Violence, Renaissance tragedy, and Hamlet; 7. The central tragedies and violence; 8. Roman violence and power games; 9. Violence and the late plays; 10. Afterword; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Foakes does a masterly job...Foakes offers excellent, basic, traditional scholarship with reference to context." Andrew Vorder Bruegge, St. Cloud State University, Sixteenth Century Journal

From the Publisher