Souls with Longing

Representations of Honor and Love in Shakespeare

Edited by Bernard J. Dobski and Dustin A. Gish - Contributions by John Alvis; George Anastaplo; Glenn Arbery; John Briggs; Paul Cantor; Leon Craig; Scott Crider; Dustin A. Gish; Carson Holloway; David Lowenthal; Carol McNamara and Laurence D. Nee

The works of William Shakespeare vividly represent for our admiration and study a pageant of souls with longing in whose wake we ceaselessly follow. Through some of his most memorable characters, Shakespeare illuminates the nature and character—as well as consequences—of our distinctively human passions and ambition, in particular our desire for and pursuit of both honor and love. The contributors to this collaborative volume (scholars in English Literature, Political Philosophy, and the Humanities) argue that Shakespeare has much to teach us about our longing for honor and love in particular, and thus about who we are, what we desire, and why. Through sustained reflection on the Shakespearean portraits of honor and love, which are the focus of the chapters in Souls With Longing, we become more keenly aware of our own humanity and come to know ourselves more profoundly. As the abiding popularity of his works aptly demonstrates, Shakespeare’s unforgettable portraits of souls with longing—his representations of honor and love—continue to exert undeniable sway over our political, moral, and romantic imaginations.

Lexington Books

Pages: 342 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7391-6541-6 • Hardback • December 2011 • $147.00 • (£113.00)

978-0-7391-6542-3 • Paperback • December 2011 • $59.99 • (£46.00)

978-0-7391-6543-0 • eBook • November 2011 • $57.00 • (£44.00)

Subjects: Political Science / History & Theory, History / Modern / 16th Century, Literary Criticism / Shakespeare

Souls with Longing

Representations of Honor and Love in Shakespeare

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

The works of William Shakespeare vividly represent for our admiration and study a pageant of souls with longing in whose wake we ceaselessly follow. Through some of his most memorable characters, Shakespeare illuminates the nature and character—as well as consequences—of our distinctively human passions and ambition, in particular our desire for and pursuit of both honor and love. The contributors to this collaborative volume (scholars in English Literature, Political Philosophy, and the Humanities) argue that Shakespeare has much to teach us about our longing for honor and love in particular, and thus about who we are, what we desire, and why. Through sustained reflection on the Shakespearean portraits of honor and love, which are the focus of the chapters in Souls With Longing, we become more keenly aware of our own humanity and come to know ourselves more profoundly. As the abiding popularity of his works aptly demonstrates, Shakespeare’s unforgettable portraits of souls with longing—his representations of honor and love—continue to exert undeniable sway over our political, moral, and romantic imaginations.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 342 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7391-6541-6 • Hardback • December 2011 • $147.00 • (£113.00)

978-0-7391-6542-3 • Paperback • December 2011 • $59.99 • (£46.00)

978-0-7391-6543-0 • eBook • November 2011 • $57.00 • (£44.00)

Subjects: Political Science / History & Theory, History / Modern / 16th Century, Literary Criticism / Shakespeare

Author

Bernard J. Dobski is associate professor and chair of political science at Assumption College.
Dustin A. Gish is visiting assistant professor in the Political Science Department at the College of The Holy Cross.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Prologue
Shakespeare's Souls with Longing
Chapters
Chapter 1. Shakespeare's Understandings of Honor: Morally Absolute, Politically Relative
Chapter 2. Love, Honor, and the Dynamics of Shakespearean Drama
Chapter 3. The Spectrum of Love: Nature and Convention in As You Like It
Chapter 4. Pagan Statesmanship and Christian Translation: Governing Love in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Chapter 5. Honor and Eros: Private Goods and Public Neglect in Shakespeare's Troy
Chapter 6. Friendship and Love of Honor: The Education of Henry V
Chapter 7. Love, Sex, and Shakespeare's Intention in Romeo and Juliet
Chapter 8. Macbeth's Strange Infirmity: Shakespeare's Portrait of A Demonic Tyranny
Chapter 9. Beyond Love and Honor: Eros and Will to Power in Richard III
Chapter 10. Taming The Tempest: Prospero's Love of Wisdom and the Turn from Tyranny
Chapter 11. A Motley to the View: Staging Tragic Honor
Epilogue
Chapter 12. The Phoenix and Turtle and the Mysteries of Love: Who Wants What, Why, and to What Effect?
Chapter 13. Love's Book of Honor and Shame: Shakespeare's Sonnets and Lyric Flourishing
Appendices
Chapter A. Shakespeare's Plays: First Folio Edition (London, 1623)
Chapter B. Shakespeare's Works: Arranged According to Composition Date
Chapter C. Shakespeare's Plays: Arranged According to Political Order
Chapter D. Shakespeare's Plays: Arranged According to Dramatic Setting and Date

Reviews

How strange the idea, and yet how compelling, that our greatest poet could also be our greatest teacher. These excellent essays return us to the problem of combining honor and love, the demand for dignity with the longing for something better.
— Harvey C. Mansfield, Harvard University

The essays in this collection artfully bring together careful readings of the Shakespearean texts and some of the enduring issues of the political philosophic tradition. Serious students from both sets of disciplines will find in these fruitful encounters much food for thought.
— Jules Gleicher, Rockford College

This engaging collection of essays looks intently at conflicts of honor and eros in Troilus and Cressida, friendship and love in Henry V, love and sex in Romeo and Juliet, nature and convention in As You Like It, moral absolutes and political relativities everywhere, and much more. This highly readable book helps clarify why Shakespeare remains top billing not just in high schools and universities but in the popular imagination.
— David Bevington, Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago

The editors of Souls With Longing advance the notion that Shakespeare advocates a model of honor and love through his plays. In this conception, we are souls who long for love and honor; Shakespeare demonstrates how we can reach those goals....The essays very effectively make a case for a place at the Shakespearean table for readings that presume plenitude and desirability in ideas such as honor, love and Christian spirituality; one hopes for a book that more seriously accomplishes this task.
— Sixteenth Century Journal