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Article: Apolitical Shakespeare; or, the Restoration 'Coriolanus.' (Shakespearean adaptations)
- Article from:
- Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
- Article date:
- June 22, 1998
- Author:
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Several recent critical studies of Shakespeare's historical evolution into the figure Michael Dobson calls "the national poet" have considerably enriched our understanding of how Shakespearean adaptations functioned politically and culturally on the Restoration stage. Previously, and in the shadow of early-twentieth-century critics such as George C. D. Odell and Hazelton Spencer, abstract aesthetic considerations had dominated scholarly discussion of late-seventeenth-century productions of Shakespeare, an analytical tradition in which Restoration standards were almost invariably disparaged in comparison with those of the Renaissance.(1)
Given such a critical climate, ...