Hamlet versus Lear: Cultural Politics and Shakespeare’s Art

This book focuses on the two plays of Shakespeare that have generally contended for the title of greatest among his works. Hamlet remained a focal point of reference until about 1960, when it was displaced by King Lear, a play which at the same time ceased to be perceived as a play of redemption and became a play of despair. Foakes attempts to explain these shifts by analysing the reception of the plays since about 1800, an analysis which necessarily engages with the politics of the plays and the politics of criticism. Recent critical theorising has destabilised the texts and undermined the notion of ‘greatness’ or any consideration of the plays as works of art. Foakes takes issue with such theories and reconsiders textual revisions, in order to argue for the integrity of the plays as reading texts, and to recover a flexible sense of their artistry in relation to meaning. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of Shakespeare and to theatre-goers.

Acknowledgements; Preface; 1. Introduction: Hamlet versus King Lear; 2. Hamlet and Hamletism; 3. The reception of King Lear; 4. Plays and texts; 5. Hamlet, King Lear and art; 6. A design for Hamlet; 7. A shaping for King Lear; Epilogue.