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Description

Shakespeare and Identity in a Divided World examines some of the most pressing issues about identity and so-called identity politics in the highly polarized twenty-first century. The book uses Shakespeare’s plays and the history of sixteenth and seventeenth-century England to discuss gender, race, mental health, disability, and fatness as they were perceived in Shakespeare’s age and then considers ways in which audiences, readers, and classrooms might use them to think about those same topics in the twenty-first century.

The book includes discussion of both Shakespeare’s text and contemporary productions, films, and reimaginings of those plays, as well as the historical and theoretical context relevant to each topic. Beginning with the question of Shakespeare’s identity, the book then goes on to discuss femininity, masculinity, trans and queer identity, race, mental health, and then disability and fatness before concluding with a discussion of Shakespeare’s condemnation of polarization, whether social or political.

ISBN

9781032230955

Publication Date

2026

Publisher

Routledge

DOI

10.4324/9781003275640

School

Jepson School of Leadership Studies

Department

Leadership Studies

Disciplines

English Language and Literature | Literature in English, British Isles

[Introduction to] Shakespeare and Identity in a Divided World

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