Poor Naked Wretches
Shakespeare’s Working People
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- $39.99
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- $39.99
Publisher Description
Disputing the notion that William Shakespeare scorned the rabble, an illuminating look at the complex working people of his plays.
Was Shakespeare a snob? Poor Naked Wretches challenges the idea that one of the greatest writers of the English language despised working people, showing that he portrayed them with as much insight, compassion, and purpose as the rich and powerful. Moreover, working people play an important role in his dramatic method. Stephen Unwin reads Shakespeare anew, exploring the astonishing variety of working people in his plays, as well as the vast range of cultural sources from which they were drawn. Unwin argues that the robust realism of these characters, their independence of mind, and their engagement in the great issues of the day, make them much more than mere comic relief. Compassionate, cogent, and wry, Poor Naked Wretches grants these often-overlooked figures the dignity and respect they deserve.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Working-class characters are just as crucial to The Bard's work as "the rich and powerful" according to this sharp study from theater director Unwin (The Well Read Play). Aiming to upend the notion that Shakespeare was a snobbish playwright with contempt for the poor, Unwin makes a case that his depictions of the lower classes are "bursting with life and independence of mind... make a vital contribution to the drama and its underlying purposes." Unwin divides his survey into sections based on classes—"Servants, Messengers and Slaves" is a consideration of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, in which servants are depicted as "much more than the bumpkins of reactionary criticism or bad acting." "Tradesmen and Craftsmen, Labourers and Rebels" makes a convincing case that the depiction of a rebellion in Henry VI, Part 2 wasn't, as some critics think, a show of Shakespeare's conservatism. "Soldiers, Sailors and Men at Arms" lays out how Henry VI depicts "the brutal realities of war, where the poor are bullied and exploited by a corrupt and desperately cynical ruling class." Unwin's arguments are enlivened by vivid historical context: "With its overcrowded streets, ramshackle housing and deepening class divisions, Jacobean London was a tinder-box for social unrest," he writes. This original spin on Shakespearean studies delivers.
