Shakespeare: The Theater and the Book

This book explores the reasons for the lasting freshness and modernity of Shakespeare’s plays, while revising the standard history of English medieval and Renaissance drama. Robert Knapp argues that changes in the authority of English monarchs, in the differentiation and integration of English society, in the realization of human figures on stage, and in the understanding of signs helped produce scripts that still compel us to the act of interpretation.

Originally published in 1989.

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