Shakespeare on Masculinity

Masculinity was a political issue in early modern England. Phrases such as courage-masculine or manly virtue took on a special meaning and signified commitment to the ideals of militant Protestantism. Diplomacy and compromise were disparaged as ‘feminine’. Shakespeare on Masculinity is an original study of the way Shakespeare’s plays engage with this ideal and a subject that provoked bitter public dispute. Robin Headlam Wells argues that Shakespeare took a sceptical view of the militant-Protestant cult of heroic masculinity. Following a series of portraits of the dangerously charismatic warrior-hero, Shakespeare turned at the end of his writing career to a different kind of leader. If the heroes of the martial tragedies evoke a Herculean ideal of manhood, The Tempest portrays a ruler who, Orpheus-like, uses the arts of civilization to bring peace to a divided world. Other plays receiving close readings include Henry V, Troilus and Cressida, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and Coriolanus.

• Part of the latest analytical mode in gender studies looking at masculinity and the masculine in literature • Explores Shakespeare’s definition and interpretation of the masculine in his most famous plays • Offers insights into early modern culture and social history

Preface; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The chivalric revival: Henry V and Troilus and Cressida; 2. ‘Tender and delicate prince’: Hamlet; 3. ‘O these men, these men’: Othello; 4. ‘Arms and the man’: Macbeth; 5. ‘Flower of warriors’: Coriolanus; 6. ‘Rarer action’: The Tempest; Afterword: historicism and ‘presentism’; Select bibliography; Index.