Shakespeare's Speculative Art
About This Book
This is the first book-length analysis of Shakespeare s depiction of specula (mirrors) to reveal the literal and allegorical functions of mirrors in the playwright s art and thought. Adding a new dimension to the plays Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Henry the Fifth, Love s Labor s Lost, A Midsummer Night s Dream, and All s Well That Ends Well, Maurice A. Hunt also references mirrors in a wide range of external sources, from the Bible to demonic practices. Looking at the concept of speculation through its multiple meanings - cognitive, philosophical, hypothetical, and provisional - this original reading suggests Shakespeare as a craftsman so prescient and careful in his art that he was able to criticize the queen and a former patron with such impunity that he could still live as a gentleman.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-Title
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Introduction
- One Speculative Understanding and Ignorance in Shakespeareâs Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth
- Two Holding Up Drama as an âIdealâ Mirror in Hamlet and The Life of King Henry the Fifth
- Three Mirroring Queen Elizabeth in John Lylyâs Comedies
- Four Mirroring Queen Elizabeth in Loveâs Laborâs Lost
- Five A Speculative Political Allegory in A Midsummer Nightâs Dream
- Six Mirroring the Earl of Southampton in Allâs Well That Ends Well
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index