Shakespeare's freedom

Resource Information

The work Shakespeare's freedom represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Randwick City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Shakespeare's freedom

Statement of responsibility

Stephen Greenblatt

Creator

• Greenblatt, Stephen, 1943-

Subject

• Freedom of expression
• Intellectual freedom
• Authority
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Philosophy
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Political and social views
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation

Language

eng

Summary

Shakespeare lived in a world of absolutes, of claims for the absolute authority of scripture, monarch, and God, and the authority of fathers over wives and children, the old over the young, and the gentle over the baseborn. The author shows that Shakespeare was strikingly averse to such absolutes and constantly probed the possibility of freedom from them. Again and again, Shakespeare confounds the designs and pretensions of kings, generals, and churchmen. His aversion to absolutes even leads him to probe the exalted and seemingly limitless passions of his lovers. The author explores this rich theme by addressing four of Shakespeare's preoccupations across all the genres in which he worked. He first considers the idea of beauty in Shakespeare's works, specifically his challenge to the cult of featureless perfection and his interest in distinguishing marks. He then turns to Shakespeare's interest in murderous hatred, most famously embodied in Shylock but seen also in the character Bernardine in Measure for Measure. Next the author considers the idea of Shakespearean authority, that is, Shakespeare's deep sense of the ethical ambiguity of power, including his own. Ultimately, the auhor takes up Shakespearean autonomy, in particular the freedom of artists, guided by distinctive forms of perception, to live by their own laws and to claim that their creations are singularly unconstrained

Cataloging source

ICU/DLC

Dewey number

822.33

Illustrations

• illustrations
• plates

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

The Rice University Campbell lectures