Shakespeare and the Nature of Women [Paperback]

Shakespeare and The Nature of Women , first published in 1975, inaugurated a new wave of feminist scholarship. It claimed that Shakespeare's plays offered a sustained critique of inherited male thinking about women, theological, literary and social. The book argued that the presence of the boy actor in Shakespeare's theatre created an awareness of gender as performance. Almost thirty years on, it continues to be the corner-stone of writing about women in this period and the spring-board for new research.Acknowledgements Preface to the Third Edition Preface to the Second Edition Introduction The Idea of Chastity The Problem of Equality Gods and Devils Femininity and Masculinity Shakespeare Works Cited Index

'Shakespeare and the Nature of Women gives a voice not just to women in Shakespeare but to women in Shakespeare studies. It's a courageous, feisty, intellectually ambitious and beautifully written book that,

having launched the Shakespeare revolution for women a generation ago,

remains just as challenging for readers today. A classic.' - Professor Carol Rutter, Department of English and Theatre Studies, University of Warwick

'First published in 1975, Dusinberre's boldly pathbreaking book helped

establish the field of feminist Shakespeare studies. With its wideranging

attention to gender ideology and to the complex conditions of theatrical

performance on the early modern stage, Shakespeare and the Nature of

Women has continued to influence generations of scholars, readers, and

actors. An insightful and impassioned critic, Dusinberre not only offers

provocative and fresh readings of Shakespeare's plays but has changed the

very terms through which scholars study the theatrical culture of early modern

London.' - Professor Jean Howard, Department of English, ColumbialÃ%