- Title Pages
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on References
- Introduction
- 1 Textual Shakespeare
- 2 Shakespeare and Poetry
- 3 Shakespeare and The Novel
- 4 Shakespeare and Translation
- 5 Shakespeare Anthologized
- 6 Shakespeare and Biography
- 7 Shakespeare and Early Modern Music
- 8 Shakespeare and Opera
- 9 Shakespeare and Classical Music
- 10 Shakespeare and Musical Theatre
- 11 Shakespeare, Ballet and Dance
- 12 Shakespeare and Popular Music
- 13 Shakespeare and Drama
- 14 Shakespeare and The Renaissance Stage
- 15 Shakespeare and The Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Stage
- 16 Shakespeare and The Victorian Stage
- 17 Shakespeare and The Modern Stage
- 18 Shakespeare and Contemporary Performance Spaces
- 19 Shakespeare for Children
- 20 Shakespeare and Teenagers
- 21 Shakespeare and The Comic Book
- 22 Shakespeare, Portraiture, Painting and Prints
- 23 Shakespeare, Sculpture and The Material Arts
- 24 Shakespeare Exhibition and Festival Culture
- 25 Shakespeare and Silent Film
- 26 Shakespeare on Film, 1930–90
- 27 Shakespeare on Film, 1990–2010
- 28 Shakespeare on Television
- 29 Shakespeare and Radio
- 30 Shakespeare on The Internet and in Digital Media
- Notes on Contributors
- Index
Shakespeare and Biography
Shakespeare and Biography
- Chapter:
- (p.106) 6 Shakespeare and Biography
- Source:
- The Edinburgh Companion to Shakespeare and the Arts
- Author(s):
David Bevington
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
This chapter addresses the question on whether a Shakespearean ‘real life’ can be legitimately extracted from his books. Biographical interpretation of Shakespeare's works earned a bad reputation in the early twentieth century, and for good reasons. The plays of the first half of Shakespeare's career are comedies and history plays — that is, celebrations of falling in love and of entering upon manhood. The romantic solution of Shakespeare's comedies enables the male to make the trajectory across the hazardous terrain with the least possible pain. It can be stated that after having explored in Pericles a narrative of recovering a wife whom the father has abandoned, and of a reunion with a daughter after long years of separation, Cymbeline experiments with a story in which the mother is more than superfluous; she is part of the problem.
Keywords: Shakespearean real life, Shakespeare, biography, love, manhood, comedies, Pericles, Cymbeline
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- Title Pages
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on References
- Introduction
- 1 Textual Shakespeare
- 2 Shakespeare and Poetry
- 3 Shakespeare and The Novel
- 4 Shakespeare and Translation
- 5 Shakespeare Anthologized
- 6 Shakespeare and Biography
- 7 Shakespeare and Early Modern Music
- 8 Shakespeare and Opera
- 9 Shakespeare and Classical Music
- 10 Shakespeare and Musical Theatre
- 11 Shakespeare, Ballet and Dance
- 12 Shakespeare and Popular Music
- 13 Shakespeare and Drama
- 14 Shakespeare and The Renaissance Stage
- 15 Shakespeare and The Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Stage
- 16 Shakespeare and The Victorian Stage
- 17 Shakespeare and The Modern Stage
- 18 Shakespeare and Contemporary Performance Spaces
- 19 Shakespeare for Children
- 20 Shakespeare and Teenagers
- 21 Shakespeare and The Comic Book
- 22 Shakespeare, Portraiture, Painting and Prints
- 23 Shakespeare, Sculpture and The Material Arts
- 24 Shakespeare Exhibition and Festival Culture
- 25 Shakespeare and Silent Film
- 26 Shakespeare on Film, 1930–90
- 27 Shakespeare on Film, 1990–2010
- 28 Shakespeare on Television
- 29 Shakespeare and Radio
- 30 Shakespeare on The Internet and in Digital Media
- Notes on Contributors
- Index
