Women in the Age of Shakespeare - by Theresa D Kemp (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book offers a look at the lives of Elizabethan era women in the context of the great female characters in the works of William Shakespeare.
Like the other entries in this fascinating series, Women in the Age of Shakespeare shows the influence of the world William Shakespeare lived in on the worlds he created for the stage, this time by focusing on women in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras in general and in Shakespeare's works in particular.

Women in the Age of Shakespeare explores the ancient and medieval ideas that Shakespeare drew upon in creating his great comedic and tragic heroines. It then looks at how these ideas intersected with the lived experiences of women of Shakespeare's time, followed by a close look at the major female characters in Shakespeare's plays and poems. Later chapters consider how these characters have been enacted on stage and in film, interpreted by critics and scholars, and re-imagined by writers in our own time.

• Includes over 30 excerpts from letters and diaries, plays, poems, educational and religious treatises, and legal documents from the 16th and 17th centuries
• Presents photos of actors playing female Shakespearean characters, including Emma Thompson, Claire Danes, Sarah Bernhardt, and Peggy Ashcroft

Book Synopsis

This book offers a look at the lives of Elizabethan era women in the context of the great female characters in the works of William Shakespeare.

Like the other entries in this fascinating series, Women in the Age of Shakespeare shows the influence of the world William Shakespeare lived in on the worlds he created for the stage, this time by focusing on women in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras in general and in Shakespeare's works in particular.

Women in the Age of Shakespeare explores the ancient and medieval ideas that Shakespeare drew upon in creating his great comedic and tragic heroines. It then looks at how these ideas intersected with the lived experiences of women of Shakespeare's time, followed by a close look at the major female characters in Shakespeare's plays and poems. Later chapters consider how these characters have been enacted on stage and in film, interpreted by critics and scholars, and re-imagined by writers in our own time.

Review Quotes

"This latest addition to Greenwood Press's The Age of Shakespeare series is an excellent resource for undergraduates showing an interest in women's studies and early modern English literature and culture. . . . Given the thoroughness of this book's scholarship and Kemp's previous publications related to pedagogy, her contribution to this series stands testament to how seriously most of us involved in scholarly research take our teaching responsibilities." --Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal

"Kemp has produced a fascinating volume for the "Age of Shakespeare" series. . . . Though Kemp's discussions may seem truncated, idiosyncratic, and impressionistic, herein lies the book's greatest strength: she jam-packs the volume with interesting facts and thought-provoking ideas ideally suited to group discussion. The absence of glib study-guide interpretations and quickie plot summaries makes this book more road map than shortcut, the beginning of countless interesting conversations rather than the final word. This book deserves a wide readership. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, faculty, general readers." --Choice

"Meticulous but accessible, this is for the scholar or serious lay reader." --Library Journal

About the Author