Childhood in Shakespeare's PlaysP. Lang, 2006 - 139 pages Childhood in Shakespeare's Plays challenges the notion that Shakespeare, like other Elizabethans, regarded children as small adults. The author shows how the playwright's myriad references to childhood give an additional dimension to his adult figures. Providing the first detailed analysis of the child characters in Richard III, King John, Macbeth, and The Winter's Tale, this book proves that Shakespeare did not depict children as unnaturally precocious or sentimentally innocent. |
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absence adults ambivalence Antigonus Antony and Cleopatra Arthur asserts baby Banquo bastard biological birth blood bond brother Cambridge cause century child characters Clarence Comedy of Errors confrontation Constance Coriolanus danger daughter death declares Despite Duchess Duke Duncan earlier Edward Elinor Elizabethan emotional emphasizes England evil evokes father fear feels Florizel Gentlemen of Verona Gloucester Hamlet Henry VI Hermione History of Childhood Hubert human husband illegitimacy illegitimate infant infanticide innocence King Henry King John King Lear Lady Macbeth Lady Macduff later legitimacy Leontes Love's Labor's Lost Mamillius marriage maternal Merchant of Venice Midsummer Night's Dream milk moral mother murder nature nurse offspring older Othello parents Paulina Perdita physical playwright political Polixenes precocious pregnancy relationship resemblance Richard Richard III Romeo and Juliet says Shakespeare social society suggests swaddling throne Titus Andronicus uncle University Press wife Winter's Tale womb women young Prince young York youth