Shakespeare's History Plays

Shakespeare''s History Plays are central to his dramatic achievement. Often seen as political dramas, they mix heroic, comic, and tragic modes. In recent years they have stimulated intensely contested interpretations because of their treatment of English and national identities and of gender issues. Beginning in the 1980s, New Historicist and cultural materialist readings swept away an earlier humanist consensus. Psychoanalytic readings have been followed by a highly productive recent wave of feminist, gender-based, and post-colonial criticism. R.J.C. Watt provides an up-to-date critical anthology representing the best work from each of these theoretical perspectives. His introduction outlines the changing debate which has now become one of the liveliest areas of Shakespeare criticism.

Shakespeare''s history plays are central to his dramatic achievement. In recent years they have become more widely studied than ever, stimulating intensely contested interpretations, due to their relevance to central contemporary issues such as English, national identities and gender roles.

Interpretations of the history plays have been transformed since the 1980s by new theoretically-informed critical approaches. Movements such as New Historicism and cultural materialism, as well as psychoanalytical and post-colonial approaches, have swept away the humanist consensus of the mid-twentieth century with its largely conservative view of the plays.

The last decade has seen an emergence of feminist and gender-based readings of plays which were once thought overwhelmingly masculine in their concerns. This book provides an up-to-date critical anthology representing the best work from each of the modern theoretical perspectives. The introduction outlines the changing debate in an area which is now one of the liveliest in Shakespearean criticism.