Kirjahaku

What did work mean to Shakespeare? And what does it mean to work in Shakespeare's plays? Work was a quintessential part of early modern society, as it is today. But the meanings attached to different forms of work were changing in important ways during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in England. Developments such as the enclosure movement, the growth of venture capitalism, and the diversification of the wage-labour market transformed England's labour economy and helped reshape the everyday lives of men and women in both rural and urban communities. These socio-economic shifts had a direct effect on the professional theatres of Shakespeare's day. The world of work, including the people at all social levels who performed it, was vital to Shakespeare's drama, both because the theatre was a highly successful business enterprise in its own right and because work significantly influences the plots, language, and structures of Shakespeare's plays throughout his career. Shakespeare and Work introduces readers to the rich working world of Shakespeare's plays. Opening chapters provide an overview of working conditions in Shakespeare's England and in the theatre and discuss Shakespeare's own practices as a working playwright. Subsequent chapters examine a range of plays from multiple genres, including Twelfth Night, Othello, The Tempest, Titus Andronicus, Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, 2 Henry VI, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and consider several types of work that are either staged directly (such as service) or, more frequently, alluded to (such as agricultural work). Offering an accessible and wide-ranging account of how Shakespeare engaged with the working world around him, Shakespeare and Work demonstrates that we can come to a richer understanding of Shakespeare's dramatic output and cultural legacy if we attend to how the everyday world of work shapes both the action and the language of his plays.

What did work mean to Shakespeare? And what does it mean to work in Shakespeare's plays? Work was a quintessential part of early modern society, as it is today. But the meanings attached to different forms of work were changing in important ways during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in England. Developments such as the enclosure movement, the growth of venture capitalism, and the diversification of the wage-labour market transformed England's labour economy and helped reshape the everyday lives of men and women in both rural and urban communities. These socio-economic shifts had a direct effect on the professional theatres of Shakespeare's day. The world of work, including the people at all social levels who performed it, was vital to Shakespeare's drama, both because the theatre was a highly successful business enterprise in its own right and because work significantly influences the plots, language, and structures of Shakespeare's plays throughout his career. Shakespeare and Work introduces readers to the rich working world of Shakespeare's plays. Opening chapters provide an overview of working conditions in Shakespeare's England and in the theatre and discuss Shakespeare's own practices as a working playwright. Subsequent chapters examine a range of plays from multiple genres, including Twelfth Night, Othello, The Tempest, Titus Andronicus, Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, 2 Henry VI, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and consider several types of work that are either staged directly (such as service) or, more frequently, alluded to (such as agricultural work). Offering an accessible and wide-ranging account of how Shakespeare engaged with the working world around him, Shakespeare and Work demonstrates that we can come to a richer understanding of Shakespeare's dramatic output and cultural legacy if we attend to how the everyday world of work shapes both the action and the language of his plays.

Early modern England's system of patrilineal inheritance, in which the eldest son inherited his father's estate and title, was one of the most significant forces affecting social order in the period. Demonstrating that early modern theatre played a unique and vital role in shaping how inheritance was understood, Michelle M. Dowd explores some of the common contingencies that troubled this system: marriage and remarriage, misbehaving male heirs, and families with only daughters. Shakespearean drama helped question and reimagine inheritance practices, making room for new formulations of gendered authority, family structure, and wealth transfer. Through close readings of canonical and non-canonical plays by Shakespeare, Webster, Jonson, and others, Dowd pays particular attention to the significance of space in early modern inheritance and the historical relationship between dramatic form and the patrilineal economy. Her book will interest researchers and students of early modern drama, Shakespeare, gender studies, and socio-economic history.

Early modern England's system of patrilineal inheritance, in which the eldest son inherited his father's estate and title, was one of the most significant forces affecting social order in the period. Demonstrating that early modern theatre played a unique and vital role in shaping how inheritance was understood, Michelle M. Dowd explores some of the common contingencies that troubled this system: marriage and remarriage, misbehaving male heirs, and families with only daughters. Shakespearean drama helped question and reimagine inheritance practices, making room for new formulations of gendered authority, family structure, and wealth transfer. Through close readings of canonical and non-canonical plays by Shakespeare, Webster, Jonson, and others, Dowd pays particular attention to the significance of space in early modern inheritance and the historical relationship between dramatic form and the patrilineal economy. Her book will interest researchers and students of early modern drama, Shakespeare, gender studies, and socio-economic history.

Dowd investigates literature's engagement with the gendered conflicts of early modern England by examining the narratives that seventeenth-century dramatists created to describe the lives of working women.