Shakespeare's Adolescents

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A01=Victoria Sparey
Author_Victoria Sparey
Boy actors
Category=DSBD
Category=DSG
Category=JBSP2
Childhood Studies
Early modern adolescence
Early modern medicine
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eq_biography-true-stories
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eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Gender Studies
Humoral theory
Richard Burbage
Shakespeare
Shakespearean performance
Signs of puberty

Product details

  • ISBN 9781526195371
  • Weight: 338g
  • Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
  • Publication Date: 20 Jan 2026
  • Publisher: Manchester University Press
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
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Shakespeare’s adolescents examines the varied representation of adolescent characters in Shakespeare’s plays. Using early modern medical knowledge and an understanding of contemporary theatrical practices, the book unpacks complexities that surrounded the cultural and theatrical representations of ‘signs’ associated with an individual’s physical maturation. Each chapter explores the implications of different ‘signs’ of puberty, in verbal cues, facial adornments, vocal traits and body sizes, to illuminate how Shakespeare presents vibrant adolescent selves and stories.
By analysing female and male puberty together in its discussion of adolescence, Shakespeare’s adolescents provides fresh insight into the age-based symmetry of early modern adolescent identities. The book uses the adolescent’s state of transformation to illuminate how the unfixed nature of adolescence was valued in early modern culture and through Shakespeare’s celebrated characters and actors.

Victoria Sparey is Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at the University of Exeter

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