Who Was William Shakespeare?

Dympna Callaghan is William L. Safire Professor of Modern Letters at Syracuse University and President of the Shakespeare Association of America, 2012–13. She is the editor of the Arden Shakespeare Language and Writing Series and coeditor, with Michael Dobson, of the Palgrave Shakespeare Studies series. Her publications include Shakespeare Without Women (2000), The Taming of the Shrew: A Norton Critical Edition (2009), Shakespeare’s Sonnets (2007), The Impact of Feminism in English Renaissance Culture (2006), and Romeo and Juliet: Texts and Contexts (2003).

• Note on the Text ix Acknowledgments xiPart I The Life 11 Who was William Shakespeare? 32 Writing 233 Religion 474 Status 615 Theatre 79Part II The Plays 976 Comedies: Shakespeare’s Social Life 99The Comedy of Errors 99The Taming of the Shrew 108Love’s Labour’s Lost 119A Midsummer Night’s Dream 125The Merchant of Venice 132Much Ado About Nothing 138As You Like It 146Twelfth Night, Or What You Will 153Measure for Measure 1597 English and Roman Histories: Shakespeare’s Politics 177Richard II 1771 Henry IV 182Henry V 192Richard III 198Julius Caesar 204Coriolanus 2108 Tragedies: Shakespeare in Love and Loss 223Romeo and Juliet 223Hamlet 232Othello 241King Lear 252Macbeth 260Antony and Cleopatra 2669 Romances: Shakespeare and Theatrical Magic 277The Winter’s Tale 277The Tempest 284Index 295

“[A] highly readable introduction to the Life and Works, in the best tradition of that ancient and worthy genre. It is furthermore a piece of New Historical criticism at its sober best … With such impressive scholarly credentials, [Callaghan] is more than well equipped to provide original and perceptive introductions to Shakespeare’s life and works. But this is no mere mechanical life-and-works primer, like the dozens already available on the market and on college bookshop shelves … This [is a] substantial work of criticism, presented as an introduction to Shakespeare the man and his work, but amounting to considerably more than mere introduction. Dympna Callaghan meets admirably the challenge she set herself in the bold question of the title: who was William Shakespeare? For she shows us very well indeed who he was – and is – and why.”(Cercles, 1 June 2014)Featured in Times Literary Supplement - 25 October 2013 "Dympna Callaghan's lucid and well-structured textbook allows students to see the plays in their context." (Times Literary Supplement, 25 October 2013) "The book should interest readers who are curious about Shakespeare's life and the social and political history of England. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." (Choice,  1 August 2013)