Download or read book Shakespeare s Philosopher King written by Guy Story Brown and published by Mercer University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tragedy of King Lear precedes Cymbeline King of Britain as the earliest of Shakespeare's English history plays in the sense that it represents a primordial age when the "sceptered isle" of "England" was hardly yet even clearly differentiated from "Britain." The decay and fall of the world is visible, i.e., is originally conceivable as a subject, only from a vantage that is in some sense not itself limited to error or fault. This resolution cannot be a thesis that is merely proved from outside but a vantage that emerges in a careful reading of the 1623 Folio text from the beginning that is alert both to the whole of Shakespeare's corpus and its cultural context. The reading shows The Tragedy of King Lear to be a Thomistic portrayal of the problem and reality of kingship, in which there emerges an increasingly explicit and profoundbut unsentimentalChristianity that seems as much Augustinian as Thomistic.
Download or read book The Philosopher s English King written by Leon Harold Craig and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2015 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book on Shakespeare's Henriad studies the tetralogy as a work of political thought. Leon Harold Craig, author of two previous volumes on Shakespeare's political thought, argues that the four plays present Shakespeare's teaching on the problem of legitimacy, or who has the right to rule -- one of the perennial questions of political philosophy. Offering original interpretations of each of the plays, Craig discusses the demise of divine right in Richard II, political upheaval and disputed rule in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and the attempt to reestablish legitimacy on a new basis in Henry V. While focusing especially on the plays' various interpretive puzzles, Craig shows how the four plays constitute one narrative, culminating in the rule of England's most famous warrior king, Henry V, whose brilliant achievements were undone by ill fortune. Craig concludes with an epilogue on what might have been had Henry lived to consolidate his conquest of France and unify it with England under a single crown. Supported by a wealth of scholarship, both historical and critical, The Philosopher's English King makes a major contribution to the burgeoning scholarship on Shakespeare as a political thinker, providing further evidence for why the poet deserves to be recognized as a philosopher in his own right. Leon Harold Craig is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alberta.
Download or read book Shakespeare s Philosophy written by Colin McGinn and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2006-11-28 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shakespeare's plays are usually studied by literary scholars and historians and the books about him from those perspectives are legion. It is most unusual for a trained philosopher to give us his insight, as Colin McGinn does here, into six of Shakespeare's greatest plays—A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, and The Tempest. In his brilliant commentary, McGinn explores Shakespeare's philosophy of life and illustrates how he was influenced, for example, by the essays of Montaigne that were translated into English while Shakespeare was writing. In addition to chapters on the great plays, there are also essays on Shakespeare and gender and his plays from the aspects of psychology, ethics, and tragedy. As McGinn says about Shakespeare, "There is not a sentimental bone in his body. He has the curiosity of a scientist, the judgement of a philosopher, and the soul of a poet." McGinn relates the ideas in the plays to the later philosophers such as David Hume and the modern commentaries of critics such as Harold Bloom. The book is an exhilarating reading experience, especially at a time when a new audience has opened up for the greatest writer in English.
Download or read book Of Philosophers and Kings written by Leon Harold Craig and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative work argues that Shakespeare was as great a philosopher as he was a poet, and that his greatness as a poet derived even more from his power as a thinker than from his genius for linguistic expression. Accordingly, Leon Craig's interpretation of the plays - focusing primarily on Macbeth and King Lear, but including extensive comments on Othello, The Winter's Tale, and Measure for Measure - are intended to demonstrate what can be gained from reading Shakespeare 'philosophically.' Shakespeare, Craig argues, had a persistent fascination with the relationship between politics and philosophy, and even more precisely, with the idea of a philosophical ruler. Macbeth and King Lear are given detailed exposition for the special light they cast on tensions between philosophy and politics, knowledge and power. They show how the pursuit of an adequate understanding of certain practical issues - transient yet recurring - necessarily leads to considerations that far transcend the particular circumstances in which these practical problems arise. Metaphysics, cosmology, and man's confrontation with nature, were made dramatically manifest by Shakespeare to challenge and promote philosophic activity among his audience and readers. Unconventional in its approach, but working within the tradition of such critics as Allan Bloom and Harry Jaffa, Craig's book makes a substantial contribution to understanding the general principles of Shakespearean drama.
Download or read book Shakespeare s Philosophy written by Colin McGinn and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shakespeare’s plays are usually studied by literary scholars and historians and the books about him from those perspectives are legion. It is most unusual for a trained philosopher to give us his insight, as Colin McGinn does here, into six of Shakespeare’s greatest plays–A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, and The Tempest. In his brilliant commentary, McGinn explores Shakespeare’s philosophy of life and illustrates how he was influenced, for example, by the essays of Montaigne that were translated into English while Shakespeare was writing. In addition to chapters on the great plays, there are also essays on Shakespeare and gender and his plays from the aspects of psychology, ethics, and tragedy. As McGinn says about Shakespeare, “There is not a sentimental bone in his body. He has the curiosity of a scientist, the judgment of a philosopher, and the soul of a poet.” McGinn relates the ideas in the plays to the later philosophers such as David Hume and the modern commentaries of critics such as Harold Bloom. The book is an exhilarating reading experience, especially for students who are discovering the greatest writer in English.
Download or read book The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded written by Delia Salter Bacon and published by . This book was released on 1857 with total page 856 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Rethinking Shakespeare s Political Philosophy written by Alex Schulman and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-21 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What were Shakespeare's politics? As this study demonstrates, contained in Shakespeare's plays is an astonishingly powerful reckoning with the tradition of Western political thought, one whose depth and scope places Shakespeare alongside Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes and others. This book is the first attempt by a political theorist to read Shakespeare within the trajectory of political thought as one of the authors of modernity. From Shakespeare's interpretation of ancient and medieval politics to his wrestling with issues of legitimacy, religious toleration, family conflict, and economic change, Alex Schulman shows how Shakespeare produces a fascinating map of modern politics at its crisis-filled birth. As a result, there are brand new readings of Troilus and Cressida, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Richard II and Henry IV, parts I and II , The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure.
Download or read book The Philosophy of William Shakespeare written by William Shakespeare and published by . This book was released on 1857 with total page 710 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The philosophy of William Shakespeare delineating in seven hundred and fifty passages selected from his plays the multiform phases of the human mind written by William Shakespeare and published by . This book was released on 1857 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Philosophers on Shakespeare written by Paul A. Kottman and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume assembles for the first time writings from the past two hundred years by philosophers engaging the dramatic work of William Shakespeare.
Download or read book Shakespeare s Prince written by Guy Story Brown and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth is Shakespeare's most thoughtful history play it was about this play that Schlegel made his famous comment that "Shakespeare was as profound a historian as a poet." Yet, this last play, Shakespeare's lone Tudor history, was popular at its first playing and has proven a crowd pleaser whenever it has been performed. Ever seductive in its trappings of power and emphatic pomp and pageantry, it delineates in a political way the characters of England's most surpassing statesman and her finest queen, as well as of the king thought most infamous of all by celebrated later English writers like Hazlitt and Dickens. The dramatist here takes only the highest view of all these personages and presents each of them in such an order that they may be seen by all for who and what they truly are. The study proceeds as an interpretive commentary, act-by-act and scene-by-scene, and should be considered with the text of the play at one's elbow.
Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Philosophy written by Craig Bourne and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-25 with total page 803 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iago’s ‘I am not what I am’ epitomises how Shakespeare’s work is rich in philosophy, from issues of deception and moral deviance to those concerning the complex nature of the self, the notions of being and identity, and the possibility or impossibility of self-knowledge and knowledge of others. Shakespeare’s plays and poems address subjects including ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and social and political philosophy. They also raise major philosophical questions about the nature of theatre, literature, tragedy, representation and fiction. The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Philosophy is the first major guide and reference source to Shakespeare and philosophy. It examines the following important topics: What roles can be played in an approach to Shakespeare by drawing on philosophical frameworks and the work of philosophers? What can philosophical theories of meaning and communication show about the dynamics of Shakespearean interactions and vice versa? How are notions such as political and social obligation, justice, equality, love, agency and the ethics of interpersonal relationships demonstrated in Shakespeare’s works? What do the plays and poems invite us to say about the nature of knowledge, belief, doubt, deception and epistemic responsibility? How can the ways in which Shakespeare’s characters behave illuminate existential issues concerning meaning, absurdity, death and nothingness? What might Shakespeare’s characters and their actions show about the nature of the self, the mind and the identity of individuals? How can Shakespeare’s works inform philosophical approaches to notions such as beauty, humour, horror and tragedy? How do Shakespeare’s works illuminate philosophical questions about the nature of fiction, the attitudes and expectations involved in engagement with theatre, and the role of acting and actors in creating representations? The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Philosophy is essential reading for students and researchers in aesthetics, philosophy of literature and philosophy of theatre, as well as those exploring Shakespeare in disciplines such as literature and theatre and drama studies. It is also relevant reading for those in areas of philosophy such as ethics, epistemology and philosophy of language.
Download or read book The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded written by Delia Salter Bacon and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2019-12-06 with total page 639 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Delia Bacon's book is a famous work that challenges the conventional attribution of Shakespeare's plays to William Shakespeare. In this book, Bacon instead asserts that the plays were written by social reformers such as Francis Bacon and Sir Walter Raleigh. Although this theory was controversial at the time, it earned Bacon a following of prominent authors such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who praised her as "America's greatest literary producer of the past ten years" after her death. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Shakespearean scholarship and the controversies surrounding the authorship of his plays.
Download or read book A Philosophical Analysis and Illustration of Some of Shakespeare s Remarkable Characters written by William Richardson and published by . This book was released on 1808 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book King Lear written by Jeffrey Kahan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-04-18 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is King Lear an autonomous text, or a rewrite of the earlier and anonymous play King Leir? Should we refer to Shakespeare’s original quarto when discussing the play, the revised folio text, or the popular composite version, stitched together by Alexander Pope in 1725? What of its stage variations? When turning from page to stage, the critical view on King Lear is skewed by the fact that for almost half of the four hundred years the play has been performed, audiences preferred Naham Tate's optimistic adaptation, in which Lear and Cordelia live happily ever after. When discussing King Lear, the question of what comprises ‘the play’ is both complex and fragmentary. These issues of identity and authenticity across time and across mediums are outlined, debated, and considered critically by the contributors to this volume. Using a variety of approaches, from postcolonialism and New Historicism to psychoanalysis and gender studies, the leading international contributors to King Lear: New Critical Essays offer major new interpretations on the conception and writing, editing, and cultural productions of King Lear. This book is an up-to-date and comprehensive anthology of textual scholarship, performance research, and critical writing on one of Shakespeare's most important and perplexing tragedies. Contributors Include: R.A. Foakes, Richard Knowles, Tom Clayton, Cynthia Clegg, Edward L. Rocklin, Christy Desmet, Paul Cantor, Robert V. Young, Stanley Stewart and Jean R. Brink
Download or read book Shakespeare s Politics written by Allan Bloom and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1964 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking the classical view that the political shapes man's consciousness, Allan Bloom considers Shakespeare as a profoundly political Renaissance dramatist. He aims to recover Shakespeare's ideas and beliefs and to make his work once again a recognized source for the serious study of moral and political problems. In essays looking at Julius Caesar, Othello, and The Merchant of Venice, Bloom shows how Shakespeare presents a picture of man that does not assume privileged access for only literary criticism. With this claim, he argues that political philosophy offers a comprehensive framework within which the problems of the Shakespearean heroes can be viewed. In short, he argues that Shakespeare was an eminently political author. Also included is an essay by Harry V. Jaffa on the limits of politics in King Lear. "A very good book indeed . . . one which can be recommended to all who are interested in Shakespeare." —G. P. V. Akrigg "This series of essays reminded me of the scope and depth of Shakespeare's original vision. One is left with the impression that Shakespeare really had figured out the answers to some important questions many of us no longer even know to ask."-Peter A. Thiel, CEO, PayPal, Wall Street Journal Allan Bloom was the John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor on the Committee on Social Thought and the co-director of the John M. Olin Center for Inquiry into the Theory and Practice of Democracy at the University of Chicago. Harry V. Jaffa is professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College and Claremont Graduate School.
Download or read book Philosophical Readings of Shakespeare written by Margherita Pascucci and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-12-24 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a close philosophical reading of King Lear and Timon of Athens which provides insights into the groundbreaking ontological discourse on poverty and money. Analysis of the discourse of poverty and the critique of money helps to read Shakespeare philosophically and opens new reflections on central questions of our own time.
