A01=John Roe
Antony and Cleopatra
Author_John Roe
Category=CF
Category=DSBC
Category=DSBD
Category=DSC
Category=DSG
Comparison
Conscience
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Henry V
Il Principe
Julius Caesar
Machiavellian Influence
Magnanimity
Political Action
Richard III
Shakespeare
Product details
- ISBN 9780859917643
- Weight: 506g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 01 Mar 2002
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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A detailed comparison of Machiavelli with Shakespeare, grounded in their common use of rhetoric.
Although the question of Machiavellian influence on Shakespeare has been thoroughly debated, this book represents the first attempt to compare the two authors in detail. The playwright and the political philosopher share a commonground, a fascination with the motives and morality of political action, which makes for remarkable similarities in their presentation of the subject. In his deploying of the argument, the author of Il Principe emerges as a dramatic writer, like his English counterpart. The book, while taking in an obvious "Machiavel" figure such as Richard III, considers Machiavelli in relation to Shakespeare's depiction of more conventionally noble princes such as HenryV, together with other monarchs from the Henriad - Richard II and Henry IV - as well as King John. Though the Shakespearean focus falls on the histories, tragic heroes such as Hamlet and Macbeth also receive attention. The study concludes with two chapters on the Roman plays and assesses Shakespeare's representation of the problem of conscience (Julius Caesar) and magnanimity (Antony and Cleopatra) in the light of Machiavelli's republicanism.
JOHN ROE is Senior Lecturer at the University of York.
JOHN ROE is professor of Renaissance Literature, University of York, York, UK.
