Shakespeare’s Rome

Many critics regard King Lear as Shakespeare’s greatest play and his most tragic. Essay

Paul Cantor analyzes the natural versus conventional world of politics in Shakespeare's King Lear. Essay

They had more in common than just the sheer greatness of their literary achievements. Cervantes did not know Shakespeare's work, but Shakespeare almost certainly knew Cervantes's most famous work, Don Quixote. Essay

Shakespeare was looking in two directions when composing 1 Henry IV. He was looking back to Homer and the Iliad in order to view English history against the background of the classical heroic tradition. At the same time, he was looking at contemporary events in the court of Elizabeth. Essay

Kristol and Cantor discuss how Shakespeare used plays set in ancient Rome to explore themes such as republicanism, political greatness, and tyranny. Conversation

Cantor explains why we should study Shakespeare’s Roman plays, and interprets Coriolanus. Paul Cantor analyzes Julius Caesar, and the impact of philosophy on Roman politics. Conversation

Paul Cantor explains and debunks the prominent arguments suggesting that Shakespeare could not have written his plays. Cantor and Kristol discuss what the “Shakespeare Authorship Question” reveals about our own ideas about literary genius. Conversation

How could anyone have come up with works of the magnitude of Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth in the space of a few seasons writing for the London stage?

Hamlet in Purgatory in many respects serves as the culmination of Greenblatt's long-term project as a cultural historian. Book Review

If you really want to learn something about Shakespeare, go back to the plays. Book Review

Shakespeare's ability to provoke a variety of thoughtful responses is one measure of his enduring greatness. Book Review

Shakespeare tried to understand the world, and now the world tries to understand him. Essay

In Shakespeare’s Rome, Cantor examines the political settings of Shakespeare’s Roman plays, Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra, with references as well to Julius Caesar. Book

Cantor analyzes the way Shakespeare chronicles the rise and fall of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the Roman Empire. Book

Paul Cantor provides a new and clearly structured introduction and groundbreaking analysis of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy. Book