Bringing together methods, assumptions and approaches from a variety of disciplines, Geraldo U. de Sousa's innovative study explores the representation, perception, and function of the house, home, household, and family life in Shakespeare's great tragedies. Concentrating on King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth, de Sousa's examination of the home provides a fresh look at material that has been the topic of fierce debate. Through a combination of textual readings and a study of early modern housing conditions, accompanied by analyses that draw on anthropology, architecture, art history, the study of material culture, social history, theater history, phenomenology, and gender studies, this book demonstrates how Shakespeare explores the materiality of the early modern house and evokes domestic space to convey interiority, reflect on the habits of the mind, interrogate everyday life, and register elements of the tragic journey. Specific topics include the function of the disappearance of the castle in King Lear, the juxtaposition of home-centered life in Venice and nomadic, 'unhoused' wandering in Othello, and the use of special lighting effects to reflect this relationship, Hamlet's psyche in response to physical space, and the redistribution of domestic space in Macbeth. Images of the house, home, and household become visually and emotionally vibrant, and thus reflect, define, and support a powerful tragic narrative.

Bringing together methods, assumptions and approaches from a variety of disciplines, Geraldo U. de Sousa's innovative study explores the representation, perception, and function of the house, home, household, and family life in Shakespeare's great tragedies. Concentrating on King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth, de Sousa's examination of the home provides a fresh look at material that has been the topic of fierce debate. Through a combination of textual readings and a study of early modern housing conditions, accompanied by analyses that draw on anthropology, architecture, art history, the study of material culture, social history, theater history, phenomenology, and gender studies, this book demonstrates how Shakespeare explores the materiality of the early modern house and evokes domestic space to convey interiority, reflect on the habits of the mind, interrogate everyday life, and register elements of the tragic journey. Specific topics include the function of the disappearance of the castle in King Lear, the juxtaposition of home-centered life in Venice and nomadic, 'unhoused' wandering in Othello, and the use of special lighting effects to reflect this relationship, Hamlet's psyche in response to physical space, and the redistribution of domestic space in Macbeth. Images of the house, home, and household become visually and emotionally vibrant, and thus reflect, define, and support a powerful tragic narrative.

A study of tragedies, comedies, romances, and histories, this book examines the dynamic interplay of three concepts--gender, text, and habitat--as metaphors for cross-cultural definition. The book focuses on the cross-cultural experience, arguing that Shakespeare reinterprets, refashions, and reinscribes stage aliens such as Jews, Moors, Amazons and gypsies and thus interrogates a Eurocentric perspective and the caricatures that cultures create of one another. Writing in an accessible, compelling style, de Sousa recovers a wealth of information on race and gender relations in early modern Europe.

In this highly entertaining study, De Sousa argues that Shakespeare reinterprets, refashions and reinscribes his alien characters - Jews, Moors, Amazons and gypsies. In this way, the dramatist questions the narrowness of a European perspective which caricatures other societies and views them with suspicion. De Sousa examines how Shakespeare defines other cultures in terms of the interplay of gender, text and habitat. Written in a provocative style, this readable book provides a wealth of fascinating information both on contemporary stage productions and on race and gender relations in early modern Europe.

A study of tragedies, comedies, romances, and histories, this book examines the dynamic interplay of three concepts—gender, text, and habitat—as metaphors for cross-cultural definition. De Sousa argues that by refashioning stage aliens such as Jews, Moors, Amazons, and gypsies, Shakespeare interrogates a Eurocentric perspective and the caricatures cultures create of one another. Writing in an accessible, compelling style, de Sousa recovers a wealth of information on race and gender relations in early modern Europe.

Confronted with the formidable and at times daunting mass of materials on Shakespeare, where does the beginning student-or even a seasoned one-turn for guidance? Answering that question remains the central aim of this new edition of a guide that has been a much admired mainstay of Shakespeare studies for two decades.

Thoroughly revised and updated, this widely used teaching and study tool adds concise analyses of more than 100 new books on Shakespeare published since the 1987 edition. It also greatly expands the section on the history plays and provides separate new categories for film and television and for culture studies focusing upon seasonal festivities, hospitality, courtship rituals, sexuality, and other Renaissance social practices.

Like its predecessors, the third edition continues to provide a thoughtful overview of the development and present state of Shakespeare scholarship and its extraordinarily diverse critical approaches--including sections on feminism and gender studies, Shakespeare's Romances, poststructuralism, and the new historicism--as well as summaries and evaluations of scores of bibliographies, periodicals, monographs, and reference books.

For beginning and advanced students alike, the guide offers practical advice for doing research and writing critical papers on Shakespeare--including how to select and develop topics, prepare a working bibliography and outline, take notes, avoid plagiarism, and use appropriate documentation following the MLA system. Students will find especially instructive the new model research paper, which provides an easy-to-understand example.