|
|
Article: Shakespeare for the masses.(Arts & Letters)(John Shakespeare)
- Article from:
- The American Conservative
- Article date:
- August 25, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 The American Conservative LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
"THE GREATEST ADVANTAGE of Shakespeare studies," grumbles one scholar, "seems to be that questions may be asked over and over again, and that almost nobody pays attention to the answers." Evidence that much Shakespeare scholarship is indeed a dialogue of the deaf may be found in the current controversy over Shakespeare's religion, an arena in which identical historical material is wheeled out repeatedly by every side as conclusive proof of its own argument and just as repeatedly ignored.
Most contemporary biographers opt for a secular Shakespeare whose standpoint was that of an enlightened Renaissance humanist detached from the religious disputes of his day. ...