Shakespeare: The Basics

Sean McEvoy is a Fellow of Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, UK. His publications include Tragedy: The Basics (2016), Ben Jonson, Renaissance Dramatist (2008) and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: A Sourcebook (2006).

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: William Shakespeare 1564-2024Shakespeare’s Life: An OutlineShakespeare’s AfterlifeShakespeare Goes to CollegeShakespeare 2025How to Use this BookPART IChapter 1. Shakespeare’s LanguageWriting for a Theatre AudienceBox 1.1: Shakespeare’s AudiencesSimple or Complex, the Language is DramaticVerse and ProseBox 1.2: Playtexts in Shakespeare’s TimeRhetorical Figures and TropesBox 1.3: Some Rhetorical Figures and TropesRhetoric and Dramatic ActionBox 1.4: Social Hierarchy in Shakespeare’s EnglandChapter 2. Shakespeare’s TheatreThe Open Air PlayhouseIndoor PlayhousesActing StyleBox 2.1: Males Playing WomenRepresentation on the Early Modern StageBox 2.2: Theatre’s EnemiesDramatic Forms and MetatheatreChapter 3. Shakespeare on the Modern StagePaul Robeson’s 1930 OthelloOthello at the National Theatre (2022)Box 3.1: Shakespeare, Race and EmpireCheek by Jowl’s 1991 As You Like ItA Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre (2019)Chapter 4. The Shakespeare FilmFilming ShakespeareTragedy on Screen in 2018 and 2021: King Lear and The Tragedy of MacbethGlobalized American Shakespeare at the Millennium: Ten Things I Hate About You (1999) and O (2001)PART IIChapter 5. Comedy: The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and Twelfth Night Men, Women and Marriage in The Taming of the ShrewBox 5.1: Women and Marriage in Shakespeare’s EnglandLanguage and Power in Measure for MeasureLanguage and the Outsider in The Merchant of VeniceHumans and Nature in As You Like ItAmbiguity, Language and Desire in Twelfth NightChapter 6. The History Plays: Richard II, Henry IV (Part 1) and Henry VFeudalism in Historical Perspective: Richard IIBox 6.1: Christianity in Shakespeare’s EnglandLanguage, Meaning and Historical Change in Richard IIPower and Performance in Henry V and Henry IV, Part 1Box 6.2: Shakespeare’s Theatre and Political Freedom of ExpressionThe Subversive Subplot: Henry V and Henry IV, Part 1Women and Masculinity in the History PlaysChapter 7. Tragedy: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear and Romeo and JulietTragedy and Historical ConflictBox 7.1: LondonHamlet and Tragic DivisionTragic Kingship in MacbethPast, Present and Future in OthelloUnmasking Power in King LearTragedy and Love in Romeo and JulietChapter 8. The Romance Plays: The Winter’s Tale and The TempestFemale Authority in The Winter’s TaleContesting the Female: Miranda in The TempestWonder and Artifice in The Tempest and The Winter’s TaleFreedom in The TempestRomance and TimeChronologyGlossaryIndex