Shakespeare at Stratford. Series edited by Robert Smallwood, Susan Brock, and Russell Jackson. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2002; King Richard III. By Gillian Day. xiii + 259 pp. $24.99; Shakespeare at Stratford. Series edited by Robert Smallwood, Susan Brock, and Russell Jackson. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2002; The Merchant of Venice. By Miriam Gilbert. xiii + 183 pp. $24.99; Shakespeare at Stratford. Series edited by Robert Smallwood, Susan Brock, and Russell Jackson. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2002; The Winter's Tale. By Patricia E. Tatspaugh. xiii + 240 pp. $24.99.

2004 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-158
Author(s):  
Cary M. Mazer
Keyword(s):  
King Lear ◽  
Julius Caesar ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Winter's Tale ◽  
Richard Iii ◽  
Winter's Tale ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice

Scholars preparing production histories of individual Shakespeare plays have long been faced with the challenges of structuring their studies. The scholar can choose to write a straightforward one-actor-or-production-after-another monograph (Rosenberg on Othello, Ripley on Julius Caesar and Coriolanus, Bartholomeuz on Macbeth and The Winter's Tale, etc.), a transhistorical encyclopedic scene-by-scene and line-by-line collation (Rosenberg on King Lear, Macbeth, and Hamlet), a transhistorical interlineated text (Bratton and Hankey's Shakespeare in Production editions, under a variety of different series titles and publishers), or an exemplary-production snapshot album (Mulryne and Bulman's Shakespeare in Performance series).

The Return from the Dead

2021 ◽  
pp. 148-175
Author(s):  
Kent Cartwright
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Winter's Tale ◽  
Twelfth Night ◽  
Winter's Tale ◽  
Much Ado About Nothing ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Tempest ◽  
The Dead

Chapter 5 argues for the lingering power of medieval values and imaginative forms in their relation to characters who seemingly return from the dead. Criticism has not recognized the extent of this motif in the comedies or the way that it figures in their ongoing actions as well as their endings. Among other values, return from the dead showcases the efficacy of desire on the part of those bereft and the sense of radiant new life that the revenant sometimes acquires. While this motif is usually oriented towards Shakespeare’s late romances, such as Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest, it is strikingly pervasive, influential, and mysterious in the earlier comedies, as suggested by revenant characters ranging from Two Gentlemen’s Julia to All’s Well’s Helen. The chapter draws examples extensively from the comedies, including Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night. The motif lends uncanny power, emotional and intellectual depth, and memorability to Shakespearean comedy. It likewise helps us understand the persistence of medieval values into the early modern period.

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