Drawing inspiration from Robert Greene’s deathbed attack on Shakespeare as and “an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, and ” The Bodger (Elizabethan variant of and “botcher, and ” and “mender, and ” and “patcher and “) argues that Shakespeare’s dramas are compositions of and “shreds and patches and ” pieced together by a mind of extraordinary synthetic acuity. Such patches include passages of dialogue that, as described in the sixteenth century, and “lead objects before our eyes and ” by means of ekphrasis. The book offers substantial art-historical research into the only visual artist named by Shakespeare, Giulio Romano–who performs an important role in The Winter’s Tale as the alleged sculptor of a statue of the dead Queen. Giulio, heir to Raphael’s workshop, is known primarily as a painter and architect. My research has revealed that he was also a designer of sculpture. Applying historical and theoretical materials to close readings of several plays, I focus on the most critical issues of The Winter’s Tale -King Leontes’ sudden fit of jealousy; Shakespeare’s introduction of a surrogate playwright in the personification of Time, who refashions the play from tragedy to comedy, assisted by a behind-the-scenes female ghost writer; and the Queen’s statue amazingly and “coming to life and ” through an interactive declaration of faith.

Shakespeare the Bodger PDF

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