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The Cultural Uses of the Caesars on the English Renaissance Stage

Lisa Hopkins author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:28th Mar '08

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The Cultural Uses of the Caesars on the English Renaissance Stage cover

Caesarian power was a crucial context in the Renaissance, as rulers in Europe, Russia and Turkey all sought to appropriate Caesarian imagery and authority, but it has been surprisingly little explored in scholarship. In this study Lisa Hopkins explores the way in which the stories of the Caesars, and of the Julio-Claudians in particular, can be used to figure the stories of English rulers on the Renaissance stage. Analyzing plays by Shakespeare and a number of other playwrights of the period, she demonstrates how early modern English dramatists, using Roman modes of literary representation as cover, commented on the issues of the day and critiqued contemporary monarchs.

'In this important study of the uses of the past in early modern England, Hopkins reminds us what has always been at stake in the term "Renaissance". Hopkins sheds new light on the importance of legends of British antiquity alongside (and often in tension with) the history of classical Rome.' Philip Schwyzer, University of Exeter, UK ’... a well researched and useful work... adds an important dimension to the study of Roman-ness on the English stage.’ Comparative Drama ’... lively, well-researched, provocative...’ Renaissance Quarterly

ISBN: 9780754662631

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

168 pages