The king my father's wrack : the moral nexus of Shakespearian drama

Author(s)

• Land, Stephen K.

Bibliographic Information

The king my father's wrack : the moral nexus of Shakespearian drama

Stephen K. Land

（AMS studies in the Renaissance, no. 48）

AMS Press, c2011

• : cloth

Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In ""The King My Father's Wrack"", Stephen K. Land sheds light on the issues of guilt and responsibility built into the structure of Shakespearian drama. In his mature plays, Shakespeare presents moral failure as entailed upon mortality. Dying kings, such as ""Lear"", ""Richard II"", and the ghost in ""Hamlet"" are emblematic of the paradoxical self-frustration of human aspiration. In the late plays, the romances, Shakespeare treats of the resolution, the healing of the stricken king. This is an interpretative study of the underlying moral coherence of Shakespearian drama. It examines the ways in which Shakespeare constructs his stories, comparing the plays with one another and with their chief sources. The result is an overview encompassing all the plays except the early histories and some of the collaborative works. Written in plain terms and without theoretical assumptions, it will be of interest to all students of Shakespeare as well as to the specialist.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Chapter One
• 1. Inner Worlds
• 2. Danger of Excess
• 3. Lords of Misrule
• 4. Companions
• 5. Denial of Mortal Nature
• Chapter Two
• 1. Stories of Love and Power
• 2. Villains
• 3. Victims of Tragedy
• 4. Rejected Heroines
• 5. The Day of Judgment
• Chapter Three
• 1. The Dying King
• 2. King John
• 3. Richard II
• 4. Henry IV
• 5. Julius Caesar
• 6. The Merchant of Venice
• 7. The Ghost in Hamlet
• 8. The King of France
• Chapter Four
• 1. The Pattern of the Romances
• 2. King Lear
• 3. Pericles
• 4. Cymbeline
• 5. The Winter's Tale
• 6. The Tempest
• 7. An Art that Nature Makes
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Index.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BB07402331
• ISBN:
  • 9780404623487
• LCCN: 2010017433
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: New York
• Pages/Volumes: xv, 177 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : PR3007
  • DC22 : 822.3/3
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • LCSH : Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Ethics
  • LCSH : Didactic drama, English -- History and criticism
  • LCSH : Moral conditions in literature
  • LCSH : Ethics in literature
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA00244756