Shakespeare and the Play Scripts of Private Prayer

Ceri Sullivan is a Professor of English Literature at Cardiff University, and the author of five books about the literary features that structure early modern texts about religion, trade, bureaucracy, and rhetoric. She was educated at the University of Oxford, and was formerly a banking systems analyst in the City of London and an NGO worker in sub-Saharan Africa.

• 1: Introduction: Creativity in Private Prayers 2: Techniques to Compose Private Prayers 3: Scripting a Role for the Speaker of Private Prayer: 2 and 3 Henry VI 4: Discerning a Response to Private Prayer: Richard III and Henry V 5: The Special Case of Royal Private Prayer: Henry VIII and Richard II 6: Afterword: Staging Private Prayer Appendix A. Sample contents pages of printed private prayer books Appendix B. Sample prayers on childbirth Appendix C. Sample prayers on work

This engaging study is two books in one: a book on the social and psychological dynamics of private prayer in early modern England; and a book on the role of prayer in Shakespeare's history plays. Each is a significant contribution to the literature of the period as well as to performance studies in general.