Dympna Callaghan – författare

In The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster reworked the idea of a female tragic protagonist explored in his earlier and less well-received play The White Devil. In the play, which is still much performed today, Webster addresses questions of court corruption, political scandal and the most important issue of the status of women in Jacobean England. This well chosen selection of essays looks at many of the issues that are raised by The Duchess of Malfi, including marriage and morality, sexual politics and female sexuality, providing thought-provoking analyses of this quintessential Jacobean tragedy.

It is accompanied by “A Note on the Text” and detailed explanatory annotations.“Sources and Contexts” provides three possible analogues to Shakespeare’s controversial, high-spirited play from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, George Gascoigne’s “Supposes,” and “A Merry Jest of a Shrewd and Curst Wife Lapped in Morel’s Skin.”“Criticism” offers a wide range of scholarly commentary on The Taming of the Shrew’s in fifteen essays by Laurie Maguire, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Bernard Shaw, Natasha Korda, Frances Dolan, Lynda E. Boose, Harold Bloom, Patricia Parker, Shirley Nelson Garner, Juliet Dusinberre, Marea Mitchell, Karen Newman, E. M. W. Tillyard, and Jan Harold Brunvand.“Rewritings and Appropriations” collects seven adaptations of The Taming of the Shrew from the last four centuries, by John Fletcher, David Garrick, Cole Porter, and Charles Marawitz.A Selected Bibliography is also included.

Shakespeare Without Women is a controversial study of female impersonation, and the connections between dramatic and political representation in Shakespeare's plays. In this original and challenging book, Callaghan argues that Shakespeare did not include women, and that his transvestite actors did not represent women, and were not, furthermore, meant to do so. All Shakespeare's actors were, of historical necessity, (white) males which meant that the portrayal of women and racial others posed unique problems for his theatre. What is important, Shakespeare Without Women claims, is not to bemoan the absence of women, Africans, or the Irish, but to determine what such absences meant in their historical context and why they matter today. Callaghan focuses in the implications of absence and exclusion in several of Shakespeare's works: * the exclusion of the female body fromTwelfth Night * the impersonation of the female voice in the original performances of the plays * racial impersonation in Othello * echoes of removal of the Gaelic Irish in The Tempest * the absence of women on stage and in public life as shown in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

A new study of Shakespeare’s life and times, which illuminates our understanding and appreciation of his works. Combines an accessible fully historicised treatment of both the life and the plays, suited to both undergraduate and popular audiencesLooks at 24 of the most significant plays and the sonnets through the lens of various aspects of Shakespeare’s life and historical environmentAddresses four of the most significant issues that shaped Shakespeare’s career:  education, religion, social status, and theatreExamines theatre as an institution and the literary environment of early modern LondonExplains and dispatches conspiracy theories about authorship

A new study of Shakespeare’s life and times, which illuminates our understanding and appreciation of his works. Combines an accessible fully historicised treatment of both the life and the plays, suited to both undergraduate and popular audiencesLooks at 24 of the most significant plays and the sonnets through the lens of various aspects of Shakespeare’s life and historical environmentAddresses four of the most significant issues that shaped Shakespeare’s career:  education, religion, social status, and theatreExamines theatre as an institution and the literary environment of early modern LondonExplains and dispatches conspiracy theories about authorship

Reading Shakespeare’s Poetry A lively exploration of Shakespeare’s poems and how they speak to readers Reading Shakespeare’s Poetry presents a fresh interpretation of Shakespeare’s non-dramatic poems, providing insights into the individual poems, their themes and composition, and their relation to the cultural context of Shakespeare’s world. Dympna Callaghan considers what makes Shakespeare’s language poetic and shows how his poetry is comprised not only of lyrical intensity but also of the language of everyday life. Presented chronologically, lucidly-written chapters examine Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, The Phoenix and the Turtle, the Sonnets, and A Lover’s Complaint. Special attention is paid to the distinctive ways in which lineation, rhyme, verse forms, and meter serve to delineate or erase the boundaries of Shakespeare’s poetry. Throughout the book, the author explains how Shakespeare’s language is influenced by predecessors such as Ovid and Petrarch while highlighting how ideas about the social and cultural function of poetry permeate Shakespeare’s works. Offers an eminently readable yet scholarly exploration of the literary importance of Shakespeare’s poemsExplains the technical features of Shakespeare’s poetic languageAddresses the significance of the material form in which Shakespeare’s poems appearIncludes a discussion of songs, poems, and sonnets embedded in Shakespeare’s dramatic verseReading Shakespeare’s Poetry is both a fresh and indispensable guide to the poems and a significant critical intervention. This is a must-have book for scholars, students, and general readers alike.

How did the events of the early modern period affect the way gender and the self were represented? This collection of essays attempts to respond to this question by analysing a wide spectrum of cultural concerns - humanism, technology, science, law, anatomy, literacy, domesticity, colonialism, erotic practices, and the theatre - in order to delineate the history of subjectivity and its relationship with the postmodern fragmented subject. The scope of this analysis expands the terrain explored by feminist theory, while its feminist focus reveals that the subject is always gendered - although the terms in which gender is conceived and represented change across history. Feminist Readings of Early Modern Culture not only explores the representation of gendered subjects, but in its commitment to balancing the productive tensions of methodological diversity, also speaks to contemporary challenges facing feminism.

In this fresh alternative to traditional Shakespeare studies, Dympna Callaghan, Lorraine Helms, and Jyotsna Singh address Shakespeare's works in terms of, amongst other things, the feminist history of sexuality, the ideology of romantic love, and feminist interventions in performance. Their objective is to produce new interpretations of the plays by locating them at the intersections of a range of contemporary critical, theoretical, and cultural practices.

The question is not whether Shakespeare studies needs feminism, but whether feminism needs Shakespeare. This is the explicitly political approach taken in the dynamic and newly updated edition of A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare. Provides the definitive feminist statement on Shakespeare for the 21st centuryUpdates address some of the newest theatrical andcreative engagements with Shakespeare, offering fresh insights into Shakespeare’s plays and poems, and gender dynamics in early modern EnglandContributors come from across the feminist generations and from various stages in their careers to address what is new in the field in terms of historical and textual discoveryExplores issues vital to feminist inquiry, including race, sexuality, the body, queer politics, social economies, religion, and capitalismIn addition to highlighting changes, it draws attention to the strong continuities of scholarship in this field over the course of the history of feminist criticism of ShakespeareThe previous edition was a recipient of a Choice Outstanding Academic Title award; this second edition maintains its coverage and range, and bringsthe scholarship right up to the present day

This lively and informative guide to Shakespeare's popular comedy equips you with the critical skills to analyse its language, structure and themes and to expand and enrich your own response to the play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a perfect play for exploring Shakespeare’s diverse uses of language to reveal character and themes, from formal iambics and rhyming couplets of courtiers and lovers, and ‘warbling’ notes’ and nursery rhythms of fairies, to stocky prose by the artisan players including Bottom’s comic malapropisms. An introduction considers when and how the play was written, and addresses the language with which Shakespeare created A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as the generic, literary and theatrical conventions at his disposal. It then moves to a detailed examination and analysis of the play, focusing on its literary, technical and historical intricacies; an account of the play's performance history and its critical reception completes the volume. Each chapter offers a 'Writing matters' section, clearly linking the analysis of Shakespeare's language to your own writing strategies in coursework and examinations.

Arden Student Skills: Language and Writing volumes offer a new type of study aid that combines lively critical insight with practical guidance on the writing skills you need to develop in order to engage fully with Shakespeare’s texts. The books’ core focus is on language: both understanding and enjoying Shakespeare’s complex dramatic language and expanding your own critical vocabulary as you respond to his plays. Each guide in the series will empower you to read and write about Shakespeare with increased confidence and enthusiasm.This lively and informative guide to Shakespeare's popular comedy equips you with the critical skills to analyse its language, structure and themes and to expand and enrich your own response to the play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a perfect play for exploring Shakespeare’s diverse uses of language to reveal character and themes, from formal iambics and rhyming couplets of courtiers and lovers, and ‘warbling’ notes’ and nursery rhythms of fairies, to stocky prose by the artisan players including Bottom’s comic malapropisms.An introduction considers when and how the play was written, and addresses the language with which Shakespeare created A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as the generic, literary and theatrical conventions at his disposal. It then moves to a detailed examination and analysis of the play, focusing on its literary, technical and historical intricacies, and its critical reception; an account of the play's movie adaptations completes the volume. Each chapter offers a 'writing matters' section, clearly linking the analysis of Shakespeare's language to your own writing strategies in coursework and examinations.

As You Like It: Language and Writing explores one of Shakespeare’s best-known comedies. It considers the literary and theatrical contexts in which Shakespeare was writing; examines, in detail, the different forms of language used in the play and considers ways in which language and meaning have changed over time, and are affected by performance. Each chapter contains a 'Writing matters' section which provides suggestions for activities that can further enhance a student’s understanding of the play. This informative guide to Shakespeare's popular comedy equips students with the critical skills to analyze its language, structure and themes and to expand and enrich their own responses to the play.

As You Like It: Language and Writing explores one of Shakespeare’s best-known comedies. It considers the literary and theatrical contexts in which Shakespeare was writing; examines, in detail, the different forms of language used in the play and considers ways in which language and meaning have changed over time, and are affected by performance. Each chapter contains a 'Writing matters' section which provides suggestions for activities that can further enhance a student’s understanding of the play. This informative guide to Shakespeare's popular comedy equips students with the critical skills to analyze its language, structure and themes and to expand and enrich their own responses to the play.

Through expert guidance on understanding, interpreting, and writing about Shakespeare’s language, this book makes The Winter’s Tale accessible and exciting for students. It demonstrates that careful attention to Shakespeare’s complex dramatic language can clarify the structure and concerns of the play, as well as provide deep and satisfying engagement with the social, political and ethical questions Shakespeare raises. Each chapter features a 'Writing Matters' section designed to connect analysis of Shakespeare’s language to students’ development of their own writing strategies. The book examines topics in the play such as tragicomic genre; women’s assertion of social and political agency; obedience and resistance to rulers; the virtues and risks of following festivity, and disputes over the proper forms of religious devotion.

Through expert guidance on understanding, interpreting, and writing about Shakespeare’s language, this book makes The Winter’s Tale accessible and exciting for students. It demonstrates that careful attention to Shakespeare’s complex dramatic language can clarify the structure and concerns of the play, as well as provide deep and satisfying engagement with the social, political and ethical questions Shakespeare raises. Each chapter features a 'Writing Matters' section designed to connect analysis of Shakespeare’s language to students’ development of their own writing strategies. The book examines topics in the play such as tragicomic genre; women’s assertion of social and political agency; obedience and resistance to rulers; the virtues and risks of following festivity, and disputes over the proper forms of religious devotion.

This introduction provides a concise overview of the central issues and critical responses to Shakespeare’s sonnets, looking at the themes, images, and structure of his work, as well as the social and historical circumstances surrounding their creation. Explores the biographical mystery of the identities of the characters addressed. Examines the intangible aspects of each sonnet, such as eroticism and imagination. A helpful appendix offers a summary of each poem with descriptions of key literary figures.

This introduction provides a concise overview of the central issues and critical responses to Shakespeare’s sonnets, looking at the themes, images, and structure of his work, as well as the social and historical circumstances surrounding their creation. Explores the biographical mystery of the identities of the characters addressed. Examines the intangible aspects of each sonnet, such as eroticism and imagination. A helpful appendix offers a summary of each poem with descriptions of key literary figures.

Arden Student Guides: Language and Writing offer a new type of study aid which combines lively critical insight with practical guidance on the critical writing skills you need to develop in order to engage fully with Shakespeare’s texts. The books’ core focus is on language: both understanding and enjoying Shakespeare’s complex dramatic language, and expanding your own critical vocabulary, as you respond to his plays.Key features include:• an introduction considering when and how the play was written, addressing the language with which Shakespeare created his work, as well as the generic, literary and theatrical conventions at his disposal• detailed examination and analysis of the individual text, focusing on its literary, technical and historical intricacies• discussion of performance history and the critical reception of the work• a ‘Writing matters’ section in every chapter, clearly linking the analysis of Shakespeare’s language to your own writing strategies in coursework and examinationsWritten by world-class academics with both scholarly insight and outstanding teaching skills, each guide will empower you to read and write about Shakespeare with increased confidence and enthusiasm. Shakespeare’s The Tempest is among the most widely-admired works of literature. More than any other Shakespeare play, it has lent itself to rewriting and is among the most ‘metadramatic’ of Shakespeare’s works, pondering the value of creating worlds with words.

Arden Student Guides: Language and Writing offer a new type of study aid which combines lively critical insight with practical guidance on the critical writing skills you need to develop in order to engage fully with Shakespeare’s texts. The books’ core focus is on language: both understanding and enjoying Shakespeare’s complex dramatic language, and expanding your own critical vocabulary, as you respond to his plays.Key features include:an introduction considering when and how the play was written, addressing the language with which Shakespeare created his work, as well as the generic, literary and theatrical conventions at his disposaldetailed examination and analysis of the individual text, focusing on its literary, technical and historical intricaciesdiscussion of performance history and the critical reception of the worka ‘Writing matters’ section in every chapter, clearly linking the analysis of Shakespeare’s language to your own writing strategies in coursework and examinations.Written by world-class academics with both scholarly insight and outstanding teaching skills, each guide will empower you to read and write about Shakespeare with increased confidence and enthusiasm. At a climactic point in the play, Macbeth realises that the witches have deceived him through their ambiguous language: ‘they palter with us in a double sense’. This book explores Shakespeare’s own paltering in the play – the densely rich language of ambition, of blood, and of guilt that structures Macbeth.

This lively and informative guide reveals Hamlet as marking a turning point in Shakespeare's use of language and dramatic form as well as addressing the key problem at the play's core: Hamlet's inaction. It also looks at recent critical approaches to the play and its theatre history, including the recent David Tennant / RSC Hamlet on both stage and TV screen.

In this volume on Othello, Laurie Maguire examines the use and misuse of language, the play’s textual and performance histories and how critics and directors have responded to the language of sexual jealousy.

Frances E. Dolan examines the puzzling pronouns and puns, the love poetry, mischief, and disguises of Twelfth Night, exploring its themes of grief, obsessive love, social climbing and gender identity, and helping you towards your own close-readings.

Everyone knows the story of the star-crossed lovers but close attention to the language of the play can deepen and darken the legend. As icons of passion, Romeo and Juliet reveal the recklessness, as well as the idealism, of desire in a violent world. Catherine Belsey shows how you can tease out the play’s subtle meanings and goes on to discuss key adaptations, including the classic Baz Lurhmann film.

Arden Student Skills: Language and Writing volumes offer a new type of study aid that combines lively critical insight with practical guidance on the writing skills you need to develop in order to engage fully with Shakespeare’s texts. The books’ core focus is on language: both understanding and enjoying Shakespeare’s complex dramatic language and expanding your own critical vocabulary as you respond to his plays. Each guide in the series will empower you to read and write about Shakespeare with increased confidence and enthusiasm.King Lear: Language and Writing reveals how the play’s elemental power springs from its language, which is at once simple, relentless and resonant, as well as from its full-blown double plot that multiplies unbearably both the follies and the pain of its protagonists. Chapters explore the play’s status as a tragedy, its stagecraft, primary source material and both its textual and theatre history. The ‘Writing Matters’ section at the end of each chapter provides suggestions for activities that can further enhance your understanding of the play. This is an indispensable guide to Shakespeare's rich and complex dramatic language and will improve and develop your critical writing skills.

Reading Antony and Cleopatra is particularly challenging because of Shakespeare's masterful embodiment of Rome and Egypt's contrasting worlds in language, structure, and characterization.Instead of seeing the interaction of Roman and Egyptian perspectives in Antony and Cleopatra as a type of double image of reality that changes as one moves from one location to another, students often find themselves compelled to pick sides. The more romantic opt for Cleopatra as the most sympathetic character, while the pragmatists dismiss her lifestyle as self-indulgent. The central challenge in reading this play, in other words, is to resist the compulsion to take sides and, instead, to adopt a 'both-and' point of view rather than an 'either-or' choice. The play's central binary - Rome vs. Egypt - is deeply embedded in its language and structure, yet the play consistently complicates our view of either side. The book encourages students to think outside the binary box, to understand, and to celebrate, Shakespeare's exploitation of the multivalent nature of language.

Reading Antony and Cleopatra is particularly challenging because of Shakespeare's masterful embodiment of Rome and Egypt's contrasting worlds in language, structure, and characterization.Instead of seeing the interaction of Roman and Egyptian perspectives in Antony and Cleopatra as a type of double image of reality that changes as one moves from one location to another, students often find themselves compelled to pick sides. The more romantic opt for Cleopatra as the most sympathetic character, while the pragmatists dismiss her lifestyle as self-indulgent. The central challenge in reading this play, in other words, is to resist the compulsion to take sides and, instead, to adopt a 'both-and' point of view rather than an 'either-or' choice. The play's central binary - Rome vs. Egypt - is deeply embedded in its language and structure, yet the play consistently complicates our view of either side. The book encourages students to think outside the binary box, to understand, and to celebrate, Shakespeare's exploitation of the multivalent nature of language. As well as helping students to analyse the intricacy of Shakespeare's language in Antony and Cleopatra, each chapter's 'Writing matters’ section enables students to develop their own writing strategies in coursework and examinations.

Arden Student Guides: Language and Writing offer a new type of study aid which combines lively critical insight with practical guidance on the critical writing skills you need to develop in order to engage fully with Shakespeare’s texts. The books’ core focus is on language: both understanding and enjoying Shakespeare’s complex dramatic language, and expanding your own critical vocabulary, as you respond to his plays.Key features include:an introduction considering when and how the play was written, addressing the language with which Shakespeare created his work, as well as the generic, literary and theatrical conventions at his disposaldetailed examination and analysis of the individual text, focusing on its literary, technical and historical intricaciesdiscussion of performance history and the critical reception of the worka ‘Writing matters’ section in every chapter, clearly linking the analysis of Shakespeare’s language to your own writing strategies in coursework and examinations.Written by world-class academics with both scholarly insight and outstanding teaching skills, each guide will empower you to read and write about Shakespeare with increased confidence and enthusiasm. At a climactic point in the play, Macbeth realises that the witches have deceived him through their ambiguous language: ‘they palter with us in a double sense’. This book explores Shakespeare’s own paltering in the play – the densely rich language of ambition, of blood, and of guilt that structures Macbeth.

In this volume on Othello, Laurie Maguire examines the use and misuse of language, the play’s textual and performance histories and how critics and directors have responded to the language of sexual jealousy.