Women in Shakespeare: A Dictionary

by Alison Findlay, Sandra Clark (Editor)

Overview

This is a comprehensive reference guide examining the language employed by Shakespeare to represent women in the full range of his poetry and plays. Including over 350 entries, Alison Findlay shows the role of women within Shakespearean drama, their representations on the Shakespearean stage, and their place in Shakespeare's personal and professional lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472520470
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/24/2014
Series:	Arden Shakespeare Dictionaries
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	568
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Alison Findlay is Professor of Renaissance Drama and Director of the Shakespeare Programme in the Department of English and Creative Writing, Lancaster University, UK.

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Preface
Preface
Acknowledgements
Conventions
Abbreviations
Introduction
Dictionary A-Z entries
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Women in Shakespeare: A Dictionary inventively surveys not only the proper names of female characters but also many sorts of female and feminized ideas and associations in the corpus. The entry on 'woman' demonstrates how much is to be learned from such an approach to a reference book." --Roland Greene, Stanford University, Recent Studies in Tudor and Stuart Drama

"Alison Findlay's treatment of Shakespeare's female characters offers much to digest, largely because of her brilliant decision to treat these figures not only under the named part ... but also through extensive cross-references to titles of rank, occupation, social status ... names for prostitutes, female anatomy ... female icons ... female experiences ... 'pivotal moments that shaped or changed women's subject positions' ... female apparel, and the 'material representation of women' on Shakespeare's stage ... As they consult Findlay, students, scholars, and actors will find a rich layering in their efforts to 'reconstruct' the identities of Shakespeare's female parts from an array of 'fragments, ' the end result being characters who come alive on both page and stage ... the Arden Dictionaries have made an enormous contribution. While each volume impresses the reader with Shakespeare's grasp of a particular topic--wide, deep, and, as experts in various fields have noted, accurate--it is impossible to view all of the dictionaries together and not come away with renewed awe at his commodious erudition." --Deborah T. Curren-Aquino, Shakespeare Quarterly

From the Publisher

Alison Findlay's treatment of Shakespeare's female characters offers much to digest, largely because of her brilliant decision to treat these figures not only under the named part … but also through extensive cross-references to titles of rank, occupation, social status … names for prostitutes, female anatomy … female icons … female experiences … 'pivotal moments that shaped or changed women's subject positions' … female apparel, and the 'material representation of women' on Shakespeare's stage … As they consult Findlay, students, scholars, and actors will find a rich layering in their efforts to 'reconstruct' the identities of Shakespeare's female parts from an array of 'fragments,' the end result being characters who come alive on both page and stage … the Arden Dictionaries have made an enormous contribution. While each volume impresses the reader with Shakespeare's grasp of a particular topic--wide, deep, and, as experts in various fields have noted, accurate--it is impossible to view all of the dictionaries together and not come away with renewed awe at his commodious erudition.

Shakespeare Quarterly - Deborah T. Curren-Aquino

Women in Shakespeare: A Dictionary inventively surveys not only the proper names of female characters but also many sorts of female and feminized ideas and associations in the corpus. The entry on 'woman' demonstrates how much is to be learned from such an approach to a reference book.

Recent Studies in Tudor and Stuart Drama - Roland Greene