Shakespeare's Troy Drama, Politics, and the Translation of Empire [Paperback]

Examines Shakespeare's deployment of Virgil, Ovid and other classical sources in the creation of a national myth.Heather James argues that Shakespeare's use of Virgil, Ovid and other classical sources demonstrates the appropriation of classical authority in the interests of developing a national myth. She goes on to distinguish Shakespeare's deployment of the myth SH notably in Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline, and The Tempest SH from 'official' Tudor and Stuart ideology, and to show how Shakespeare participates in the larger cultural project of finding historical legitimacy for Britain as a realm asserting its status as an empire.Heather James argues that Shakespeare's use of Virgil, Ovid and other classical sources demonstrates the appropriation of classical authority in the interests of developing a national myth. She goes on to distinguish Shakespeare's deployment of the myth SH notably in Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline, and The Tempest SH from 'official' Tudor and Stuart ideology, and to show how Shakespeare participates in the larger cultural project of finding historical legitimacy for Britain as a realm asserting its status as an empire.Heather James argues that Shakespeare's use of Virgil, Ovid and other classical sources demonstrates the appropriation of classical authority in the interests of developing a national myth. She goes on to distinguish Shakespeare's deployment of the myth--notably in Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline, and The Tempest--from official Tudor and Stuart ideology, and to show how Shakespeare participates in the larger cultural project of finding historical legitimacy for Britain as a realm asserting its status as an empire.List of illustrations; acknowledgements; Introduction: Shakespeare's fatal Cleopatra; 1. Shakespeare and the Troy legend; 2. Blazoning injustices: mutilating Titus Andronicus, Virgil and Rome; 3. 'Tricks we play on the dead': making history in Troilulã3