Male Friendship in Shakespeare and his Contemporaries [Hardcover]

A study of the topic of friendship in the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.Friendship is one of the most important topics in Shakespeare, but it can be difficult to describe, and has consequently been relatively neglected. Covering a wide range of Shakespeares works, MacFaul shows how the wonderful particularity of Shakespeares characters is formed by the use of Renaissance ideas about friendship.Friendship is one of the most important topics in Shakespeare, but it can be difficult to describe, and has consequently been relatively neglected. Covering a wide range of Shakespeares works, MacFaul shows how the wonderful particularity of Shakespeares characters is formed by the use of Renaissance ideas about friendship.Renaissance Humanism developed a fantasy of friendship in which men can be absolutely equal to one another, but Shakespeare and other dramatists quickly saw through this rhetoric and developed their own ideas about friendship more firmly based on a respect for human difference. They created a series of brilliant and varied fictions for human connection, as often antagonistic as sympathetic, using these as a means for individuals to assert themselves in the face of social domination. Whilst the fantasy of equal and permanent friendship shaped their thinking, dramatists used friendship most effectively as a way of shaping individuality and its limitations. Dealing with a wide range of Shakespeare's plays and poems, and with many works of his contemporaries, this study gives readers a deeper insight into a crucial aspect of Shakespeare's culture and his use of it in art.1. True friends?; 2. Momentary mutuality in Shakespeare's Sonnets; 3. Friends and brothers; 4. Love and friendship; 5. Servants; 6. Political friendship; 7. Fellowship; 8. False friendship and betrayal; Conclusion: 'Time must friend or end'; Bibliography.Review of the hardback: '& Male Friendship will be of great interest to Shakespeareans and scholars of early modern English drló€