Shakespeare and the Medieval World [Paperback]

Helen Cooper's unique study examines how continuations of medieval culture into the early modern period, forged Shakespeare's development as a dramatist and poet. Medieval culture pervaded his life and work, from his childhood, spent within reach of the last performances of the Coventry Corpus Christi plays, to his dramatisation of Chaucer inThe Two Noble Kinsmenthree years before his death. The world he lived in was still largely a medieval one, in its topography and its institutions. The language he spoke had been forged over the centuries since the Norman Conquest. The genres in which he wrote, not least historical tragedy, love-comedy and romance, were medieval inventions. A high proportion of his plays have medieval origins and he kept returning to Chaucer, acknowledged as the greatest poet in the English language. Above all, he grew up with an English tradition of drama developed during the Middle Ages that assumed that it was possible to stage anything - all time, all space.

Shakespeare and the Medieval Worldprovides a panoramic overview that opens up new vistas within his work and uncovers the richness of his inheritance.

Introduction
Shakespeare's Medieval World
Total Theatre
Staging the Unstageable
The Little World of Man
The World of Fortune
Romance, Women and the Providential World
Shakespeare's Chaucer
Notes
Bibliograpy
Index

A unique study examining the influence of medieval culture, thinking and drama on Shakespeare's work, looking at his use of sources and the ways in which the traditions of medieval drama permeate his plays.