Making a Match examines the various options posed at every stage of English wooing, together with the presentation of these protocols in the plays of Shakespeare. Across the canon, wooing may command either a casual reference or a central position in the action, but no play escapes a connection of some kind. Instead of taking a fixed position on an institution intended to stabilize the commonwealth, Shakespeare constantly shifts position, in a kaleidoscope of caricature, criticism, acceptance, subversion, or indifference. For general readers and specialists alike, this work supplies a rich understanding of the codes so familiar to the playwright and his audience--an understanding essential for an appreciation of the subtleties of his art. Delving into primary sources, social history, demography, and literary criticism, the author offers the widest possible range of both Renaissance and modern views on the most crucial experience of Elizabethan culture. Besides correcting or illuminating the interpretations of Shakespeareans, this book offers valuable material for any area of research on the English Renaissance that touches on courtship.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
In this scholarly and thoroughly engrossing book, Cook examines the system of courtship in Elizabethan and Jacobean society and analyzes how Shakespeare incorporates this system--and also deviates from it--in his plays. Cook has read very widely in primary documents, and she discusses topics such as the age of marriageability, the importance of social status, the role played by friends, parents, and outsiders in arranging a match, how marriage served political functions, and more. Her welcome conclusion is that Shakespeare is unpredictable and continually shifts the expected pattern; his "only consistency in treating the subect in his inconsistency." All Shakespeareans, professional and amateur, as well as cultural historians, will welcome this wide-ranging study.
- Bryan Aubrey, Fairfield, Ia.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Bryan Aubrey, Fairfield, Ia.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
