|    Login    |    Register

'A Midsummer Nights Dream' in Context: Magic, Madness and Mayhem

(Paperback)


Publishing Details

Full Title:

'A Midsummer Nights Dream' in Context: Magic, Madness and Mayhem

Contributors:

By (Author) Keith Linley

ISBN:

9781783085552

Publisher:

Anthem Press

Imprint:

Anthem Press

Publication Date:

21st November 2016

Country:

United Kingdom

Classifications

Readership:

Professional and Scholarly

Fiction/Non-fiction:

Non Fiction

Other Subjects:

Literary studies: plays and playwrights
Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800

Dewey:

822.33

Physical Properties

Physical Format:

Paperback

Number of Pages:

302

Dimensions:

Width 153mm, Height 229mm

Description

Everything you need to know about the cultural contexts of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Is this just a light-hearted romp or is Shakespeare trying to make serious points about courtship, love, marriage and human folly This book provides detailed in-depth discussion of the various influences that an Elizabethan audience would have brought to interpreting the play. How did people think about the world, about God, about sin, about kings, about civilized conduct, about the magic and madness of love and attraction Historical, literary, political, sociological backgrounds are explained within the biblical-moral matrices by which the play would have been judged. This book links real life in the late 1590s to the world on the stage. Discover the orthodox beliefs people held about religion. Meet the Devil, Sin and Death. Learn about the social hierarchy, gender relationships, court corruption, class tensions, the literary profile of the time, attitudes to comedy - and all the subversions, transgressions, and oppositions that made the play a hilarious farce but also an unsettling picture of a world so close to disaster.

Reviews

"Shakespeares great comedy, to which Linley provides an excellent guide.'
Henry S. Turner, 'Recent Studies in Tudor and Stuart Drama', SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, Volume 58, Number 2, Spring, 2018, pp. 473-537"

Author Bio

Poet, painter, teacher and academic, Keith Linley has lectured at university and given papers at conferences and book festivals on a range of literary subjects.

See all

Other titles by Keith Linley

See all

Other titles from Anthem Press