Description
Shakespeare in the Present: Political Lessons under Biden is the first case study in applying the lessons of Shakespeare’s plays to post-Trump America. It looks at American politics through the lens of Shakespeare, not simply equating figures in the contemporary world to Shakespearean characters, but showing how the broader conditions of Shakespeare’s imagined worlds reflect and inform our own. Clearly written, in a direct and engaging style, it shows that reading Shakespeare with our contemporary Washington in mind can enrich our understanding of both his works and our world. Shakespeare wrote for his own time, but we always read him in our present. As such, the way we read him now is always affected by our own understanding of our own political world. This book provides quick critical analyses of Shakespeare’s plays and contemporary American politics while serving as an introduction for undergraduates and general readers to this kind of topical, presentist criticism of Shakespeare.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Shakespeare and Biden
Partisan Polarization
Polarization in late Republican Rome
Caesar and Antony beyond Trump
Partisanship closer to home
The American War of the Roses
Pretextual Insurrections and Unpunished Crimes
Henry Bolingbroke’s inheritance and Richard II’s throne
1399 and 2021
Elections, disputes, and danger to the state
The importance of consequences
The Tyranny of Expectations
From Hal to Harry
"Nothing can come of nothing"
Senator Joe and President Biden
Public negotiations
Inconstant Coalitions
Powerful allies
Wavering commitments
My 80% friend
Illegitimate Justice
The Queen and the Jew
Court-packing
Catering to self-interest
Lost France and Lost Afghanistan
France forever lost
The Hundred Years War and the "forever war"
Conclusion: Shakespeare and Presentism
