Shakespeare's history plays / edited and introduced by R.J.C. Watt.

Contributor(s):

Watt, R. J. C

Material type:

TextLanguage: English Series: Longman critical readersPublication details: Routledge, 2002.Description: 246 p. ; 24cmISBN:

9780367474522(pbk.) :

Subject(s):

Contents:

Cover Page Half Title page Series page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Battles Long Ago Providence and Humanism Essences From History to Historiography A New Historicism Cultural Materialism Ideology Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, Post-Colonial Criticism Feminist and Gender-Based Criticism Current Trends Notes Chapter One Topical Ideology Witches, Amazons, and Shakespeare's Joan of Arc1 Notes Chapter Two A Mingled Yarn Shakespeare and the Cloth Workers1 Notes Chapter Three Descanting on Deformity Richard III and the Shape of History1 Notes Chapter Four Stages of History Ideological Conflict, Alternative Plots1 Notes Chapter Five Engendering a Nation Richard II 1 Notes Chapter Six Prince Hal's Falstaff Positioning Psychoanalysis and the Female Reproductive Body1 Notes Chapter Seven Carnival and History Henry IV 1 Notes Chapter Eight The Future of History 1 and 2 Henry IV 1 The Politics of Interpretation ‘From a Prince to a Prentice' ‘Of Things/as yet not Come to Life’ Notes Chapter Nine A Tale of Two Branaghs Henry V, Ideology, and the Mekong Agincourt1 Notes Chapter Ten Back by Popular Demand The Two Versions of Henry V 1 Notes Chapter Eleven ‘Wildehirissheman’ Colonialist Representation in Shakespeare's Henry V 1 I II III Notes Chapter Twelve History and Ideology, Masculinity and Miscegenation The Instance of Henry V 1 Warring Ideologies Aesthetic Colonizations Masculinity Miscegenation Notes Bibliography Index

Summary: Shakespeare's history plays are central to his dramatic achievement. In recent years they have become more widely studied than ever, stimulating intensely contested interpretations, due to their relevance to central contemporary issues such as English, national identities and gender roles. Interpretations of the history plays have been transformed since the 1980s by new theoretically-informed critical approaches. Movements such as New Historicism and cultural materialism, as well as psychoanalytical and post-colonial approaches, have swept away the humanist consensus of the mid-twentieth century with its largely conservative view of the plays. The last decade has seen an emergence of feminist and gender-based readings of plays which were once thought overwhelmingly masculine in their concerns. This book provides an up-to-date critical anthology representing the best work from each of the modern theoretical perspectives. The introduction outlines the changing debate in an area which is now one of the liveliest in Shakespearean criticism.

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Holdings
Cover image	Item type	Current library	Home library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Materials specified	Vol info	URL	Copy number	Status	Notes	Date due	Barcode	Item holds	Item hold queue priority	Course reserves
	General Books	CUTN Central Library Literature		Fiction		822.33 SHA (Browse shelf(Opens below))					Available			49349

Cover Page
Half Title page
Series page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Battles Long Ago
Providence and Humanism
Essences
From History to Historiography
A New Historicism
Cultural Materialism
Ideology
Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, Post-Colonial Criticism
Feminist and Gender-Based Criticism
Current Trends
Notes
Chapter One Topical Ideology Witches, Amazons, and Shakespeare's Joan of Arc1
Notes
Chapter Two A Mingled Yarn Shakespeare and the Cloth Workers1
Notes
Chapter Three Descanting on Deformity Richard III and the Shape of History1
Notes
Chapter Four Stages of History Ideological Conflict, Alternative Plots1
Notes
Chapter Five Engendering a Nation Richard II 1
Notes
Chapter Six Prince Hal's Falstaff Positioning Psychoanalysis and the Female Reproductive Body1
Notes
Chapter Seven Carnival and History Henry IV 1
Notes
Chapter Eight The Future of History 1 and 2 Henry IV 1
The Politics of Interpretation
‘From a Prince to a Prentice'
‘Of Things/as yet not Come to Life’
Notes
Chapter Nine A Tale of Two Branaghs Henry V, Ideology, and the Mekong Agincourt1
Notes
Chapter Ten Back by Popular Demand The Two Versions of Henry V 1
Notes
Chapter Eleven ‘Wildehirissheman’ Colonialist Representation in Shakespeare's Henry V 1
I
II
III
Notes
Chapter Twelve History and Ideology, Masculinity and Miscegenation The Instance of Henry V 1
Warring Ideologies
Aesthetic Colonizations
Masculinity
Miscegenation
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Shakespeare's history plays are central to his dramatic achievement. In recent years they have become more widely studied than ever, stimulating intensely contested interpretations, due to their relevance to central contemporary issues such as English, national identities and gender roles. Interpretations of the history plays have been transformed since the 1980s by new theoretically-informed critical approaches. Movements such as New Historicism and cultural materialism, as well as psychoanalytical and post-colonial approaches, have swept away the humanist consensus of the mid-twentieth century with its largely conservative view of the plays. The last decade has seen an emergence of feminist and gender-based readings of plays which were once thought overwhelmingly masculine in their concerns. This book provides an up-to-date critical anthology representing the best work from each of the modern theoretical perspectives. The introduction outlines the changing debate in an area which is now one of the liveliest in Shakespearean criticism.

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