Project Details
Abstract
This book writing project aims to produce a book that will enhance our appreciation of
the licentious spirits in Shakespeare’s history plays by exploring their interconnection with
licentious features in the Renaissance Liberties and also by analyzing the thrill engendered by
the Bard’s risk of tempering with history and with dominant social and political discourses.
There is not doubt that Hal and Falstaff’s play times in Eastcheap epitomize such licentious
spirits. The discussion will stress on the significance of Eastcheap, and it will also examine
other significant unruly characters such as rebellious commoners and defying women to
demonstrate that such licentious spirits constitute dramatic fascinations, which reflect the
licentious spirit of Shakespeare’s peripheral stage.
The project is an extension of my NSC research project (2004-2005) entitled: Fools,
Tricksters and Drama: The Representation of the Comic in Shakespeare's History Plays. The
book I intend to write will also incorporate some of the analyses in my unpublished Ph. D.
dissertation entitled Interfering Voices: Women and History in Shakespeare’s History Plays,
which was completed in June 2000. The project was inspired by Museum of London’s
thrilling announcement of the discovery of Shakespeare’s first playhouse in Shoreditch on
August 6, 2008. Jack Lohman, director of Museum of London Archeology said, that the
discovery offers “a tantalising glimpse into Shakespeare’s city.” Times on Line London
Correspondent, Fiona Hamilton wrote about this Shoreditch find: “Located outside the
jurisdiction of the City of London, where puritanical magistrates and City leaders frowned on
the debauchery of the theatre movement, Shakespeare and other playwrights were free to
express themselves.” This speculation upon the site seemingly coheres with features of the
Liberties depicted both by Steven Mullaney in The Place of the Stage: Licence, Play and
Power in Renaissance England and Stephen Greenblatt in Will in the World: How
Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, yet it overlooks the risks involved in theatrical activities.
By linking the location of the peripheral stage to Shakespeare’s risky dramatizing of English
historiography, a subject presumably under stringent censorship, my proposed book hopes to
draw attention to the fascinating licentious spirits inherent in the Bard’s history plays.
Project IDs
Project ID:PE9807-1096
External Project ID:NSC98-2410-H182-015
External Project ID:NSC98-2410-H182-015
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 01/08/09 → 31/07/10 |
Keywords
- Shakespeare
- the Liberties
- Shoreditch
- Eastcheap
- history plays
- licentiousness
Fingerprint
Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.