Robin Headlam Wells

First published in 1983, Spenser’s Faerie Queene and the Cult of Elizabeth presents The Faerie Queene as a central document in the cult of Elizabeth. It shows how Spenser combines the resources of medieval iconography and Renaissance rhetoric in celebrating the Queen as the predestined ruler of an elect nation. In its introductory discussion of Renaissance poetics, the book emphasises the contemporary belief in the moral function of praise. Particular attention is given to the popular identification of Elizabeth with the Virgin Mary. If Elizabeth’s gender created problems for a poet writing in the heroic mode, at the same time it made available to him a form of praise that no secular poet had been able to use before. While the book contains material of interest to the Renaissance specialist, its lucid style and the valuable background material it provides will appeal to undergraduates reading Spenser for the first time.

First published in 1983, Spenser’s Faerie Queene and the Cult of Elizabeth presents The Faerie Queene as a central document in the cult of Elizabeth. It shows how Spenser combines the resources of medieval iconography and Renaissance rhetoric in celebrating the Queen as the predestined ruler of an elect nation. In its introductory discussion of Renaissance poetics, the book emphasises the contemporary belief in the moral function of praise. Particular attention is given to the popular identification of Elizabeth with the Virgin Mary. If Elizabeth’s gender created problems for a poet writing in the heroic mode, at the same time it made available to him a form of praise that no secular poet had been able to use before. While the book contains material of interest to the Renaissance specialist, its lucid style and the valuable background material it provides will appeal to undergraduates reading Spenser for the first time.

Renaissance humanists believed that if you want to build a just society you must begin with the facts of human nature. This book argues that the idea of a universal human nature was as important to Shakespeare as it was to every other Renaissance writer. In doing so it questions the central principle of post-modern Shakespeare criticism. Postmodernists insist that the notion of defining a human essence was alien to Shakespeare and his contemporaries; as radical anti-essentialists, the Elizabethans were, in effect, postmodernists before their time. In challenging this claim Shakespeare's Humanism shows that for Shakespeare, as for every other humanist writer in this period, the key to all wise action was 'the knowledge of our selves and our human condition'.

This title offers an introduction to the political and historical context to Shakespeare's tragedy and history plays, written in an accessible, jargon-free style." Shakespeare's Politics" is an invaluable introduction to the political world of Shakespeare's plays. It includes passages from the plays together with extracts from contemporary historical and political documents. The clear, jargon-free narrative introduces and explains the extracts and provides an overview of the key political issues that were debated in late Elizabethan and early Stuart England. The introduction outlines the historical context in which Shakespeare wrote and explains the intellectual principles that informed early modern thinking about politics. By reading Shakespeare alongside contemporary documents students will be able to develop their own informed critical interpretations of the plays. "Shakespeare's Politics" is essential for anyone studying Shakespeare while tutors and postgraduate students will find the book's up-to-date survey of modern Shakespeare criticism useful and provocative.

This title offers an introduction to the political and historical context to Shakespeare's tragedy and history plays, written in an accessible, jargon-free style." Shakespeare's Politics" is an invaluable introduction to the political world of Shakespeare's plays. It includes passages from the plays together with extracts from contemporary historical and political documents. The clear, jargon-free narrative introduces and explains the extracts and provides an overview of the key political issues that were debated in late Elizabethan and early Stuart England. The introduction outlines the historical context in which Shakespeare wrote and explains the intellectual principles that informed early modern thinking about politics. By reading Shakespeare alongside contemporary documents students will be able to develop their own informed critical interpretations of the plays. "Shakespeare's Politics" is essential for anyone studying Shakespeare while tutors and postgraduate students will find the book's up-to-date survey of modern Shakespeare criticism useful and provocative.

Masculinity was a political issue in early modern England. Phrases such as 'courage-masculine' or 'manly virtue' took on a special meaning and signified commitment to the ideals of militant Protestantism. Diplomacy and compromise were disparaged as 'feminine'. Shakespeare on Masculinity is an original study of the way Shakespeare's plays engage with this ideal and a subject that provoked bitter public dispute. Robin Headlam Wells argues that Shakespeare took a sceptical view of the militant-Protestant cult of heroic masculinity. Following a series of portraits of the dangerously charismatic warrior-hero, Shakespeare turned at the end of his writing career to a different kind of leader. If the heroes of the martial tragedies evoke a Herculean ideal of manhood, The Tempest portrays a ruler who, Orpheus-like, uses the arts of civilization to bring peace to a divided world. Other plays receiving close readings include Henry V, Troilus and Cressida, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and Coriolanus.

"Human Nature: Fact and Fiction" brings together a collection of inspiring, thought-provoking and original perspectives on human nature by ten leading writers, scientists and academics. What do we mean by 'human nature'? Is there a genetically determined core of humanity that unites us all as members of a single species? Or is the thing we call human nature a social construct? And how do we explain the mystery of human creativity? Do great writers have an intuitive grasp of what makes human beings tick, or are they merely the mouthpiece of contemporary culture? It has been claimed that 'the greatest enterprise of the mind has always been and always will be the attempted linkage of the sciences and humanities' (Edward O. Wilson). This groundbreaking book marks the beginning of a new dialogue between the two. Rather than focusing on the division between them, it shows that the sciences and humanities have much to learn from each other. Points of disagreement remain. Yet there is in this volume a genuine attempt to bridge the gulf that has traditionally separated the sciences and humanities and to reach a better understanding of what it means to be human. "Human Nature: Fact and Fiction" is a major new contribution to the debate on human nature, set to be required reading for anyone with a background in either the arts or the sciences who is interested in understanding what defines us as human beings - in what we are, and why.

"Human Nature: Fact and Fiction" brings together a collection of inspiring, thought-provoking and original perspectives on human nature by ten leading writers, scientists and academics. What do we mean by 'human nature'? Is there a genetically determined core of humanity that unites us all as members of a single species? Or is the thing we call human nature a social construct? And how do we explain the mystery of human creativity? Do great writers have an intuitive grasp of what makes human beings tick, or are they merely the mouthpiece of contemporary culture? It has been claimed that 'the greatest enterprise of the mind has always been and always will be the attempted linkage of the sciences and humanities' (Edward O. Wilson). This groundbreaking book marks the beginning of a new dialogue between the two. Rather than focusing on the division between them, it shows that the sciences and humanities have much to learn from each other. Points of disagreement remain. Yet there is in this volume a genuine attempt to bridge the gulf that has traditionally separated the sciences and humanities and to reach a better understanding of what it means to be human. "Human Nature: Fact and Fiction" is a major new contribution to the debate on human nature, set to be required reading for anyone with a background in either the arts or the sciences who is interested in understanding what defines us as human beings - in what we are, and why.

Renaissance humanists believed that if you want to build a just society you must begin with the facts of human nature. This book argues that the idea of a universal human nature was as important to Shakespeare as it was to every other Renaissance writer. In doing so it questions the central principle of post-modern Shakespeare criticism. Postmodernists insist that the notion of defining a human essence was alien to Shakespeare and his contemporaries; as radical anti-essentialists, the Elizabethans were, in effect, postmodernists before their time. In challenging this claim Shakespeare's Humanism shows that for Shakespeare, as for every other humanist writer in this period, the key to all wise action was 'the knowledge of our selves and our human condition'.

Masculinity was a political issue in early modern England. Phrases such as 'courage-masculine' or 'manly virtue' took on a special meaning and signified commitment to the ideals of militant Protestantism. Diplomacy and compromise were disparaged as 'feminine'. Shakespeare on Masculinity is an original study of the way Shakespeare's plays engage with this ideal and a subject that provoked bitter public dispute. Robin Headlam Wells argues that Shakespeare took a sceptical view of the militant-Protestant cult of heroic masculinity. Following a series of portraits of the dangerously charismatic warrior-hero, Shakespeare turned at the end of his writing career to a different kind of leader. If the heroes of the martial tragedies evoke a Herculean ideal of manhood, The Tempest portrays a ruler who, Orpheus-like, uses the arts of civilization to bring peace to a divided world. Other plays receiving close readings include Henry V, Troilus and Cressida, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and Coriolanus.