William Shakespeare

This is a bold and original reinterpretation of almost all of Shakespeare′s major plays, in the light of the Marxist, feminist and semiotic ideas of our own time. Through a set of tenaciously detailed readings, the book illuminates a number of persistent problems or conflicts in Shakespearean drama – in particular a contradiction between words and things, body and language, which is also explored in terms of law, sexuality and Nature.

Preface. 1. Language: Macbeth, Richard II, Henry IV . 2. Desire: A Midsummer Night′s Dream, Twelfth Night. 3. Law: The Merchant Of Venice, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida . 4. ′Nothing′: Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus . 5. Value: King Lear, Timon of Athern, Antony and Cleopatra . 6. Nature: As You Like It, The Winter′s Tale, The Tempest . Conclusion. Notes. Index.

Terry Eagleton is Professor of Cultural Theory and John Rylands Fellow at the University of Manchester. His works include The Ideology of the Aesthetic (1990), Literacy Theory: An Introduction (1983), Walter Benjamin (1981) and Marxism and Literacy Criticism (1976).

"Brilliant little book ... dazzling and exhilarating ... Eagleton is alive to the excitement and originality of a great playwright." Sunday Times "When you read this book you feel Eagleton′s pleasure in reading Shakespeare′s works. He deals with the plays in chapters which cut across the well–used categories and an excitement is created by the unexpectedness of the directions which he takes." Marxism Today "Always provocative, Mr. Eagleton does in print what directors regularly do on stage: change the century, stitch up new costumes, but preserve the story line and language." Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times