Shakespeare, sex, and the print revolution
Investigates how the sexual element in Shakespeare's works is complicated and compromised by the impact of print. Shakespeare's theatrical scripts, meeting-ground for the spoken and written word, contribute powerfully to those socio-sexual debates which had been re-energized by print.
Criticism, interpretation, etc
ix, 274 s
9780485114959, 9780485121216, 048511495X, 0485121212
185803701
Part 1 Shakespearean images and the paradox of print: the Shakespearean reputation; performance versus text; censorship and evasion; the first print era - reader-spectator as voyeur. Part 2 Shakespeare and the classics: Roman rapes; sexual temptress; Trojan whores; Cupid-Adonis - "prettie boyes" and "unlawfull joyes"; pox and gold - Timon's new world heritage. Part 3 The sexual reformation: the education of women - textual authority or sexual licence; "Othello", cuckoldry and the doctrine of generality; class and courtship ritual in "Much Ado"; honest whores, or the state as brothel; conclusion.