Shakespeare and Republicanism

by Andrew Hadfield

Andrew Hadfield reveals for the first time exactly how Shakespeare was influenced by contemporary strands in political thought critical of the English crown. Although he was often seen as a conservative political thinker characterized by an over-riding fear of the 'mob', Hadfield argues that Shakespeare's writing actually emerged out of an intellectual milieu fascinated by republican ideas. From the 1590s onwards, he explored republican themes in his poetry and plays: political assassination, elected government, alternative constitutions, and, perhaps most importantly of all, the problem of power without responsibility.

Genres: Shakespeare

Hardcover

First published July 20, 2001

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those of you who thought Shakespeare was this royalist, traditional, Conservative, canonical author, along comes this book....

What Andrew Hadfield does very clearly is show the republican undercurrents underpinning the last fifteen years of Elizabeth I's reign, showing that a well-read thinker such as Shakespeare would be steeped in Classical republican authors such as Tacitus and Lucan: I don't think I had even heard of Lucan until reading this book, but he shows big themes and language-echoes linking Lucan's Pharsalia to Shakespeare's works.

My main disagreement with the book is that it largely ignores the major republican themes running through Shakespeare's (and other playwrights') works in the early years of King James' reign, where I think Shakespeare got even more radical, but maybe that's just me.

But if you want a corrective to the rah-rah nationalist-monarchist view of Shakespeare, this is an excellent and readable place to start.