Shakespeare’s Speculative Art

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Maurice A. Hunt

   Pages 1-8

3. Speculative Understanding and Ignorance in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth

   • Maurice A. Hunt

   Pages 9-48

4. Holding Up Drama as an “Ideal” Mirror in Hamlet and The Life of King Henry the Fifth

   • Maurice A. Hunt

   Pages 49-97

5. Mirroring Queen Elizabeth in John Lyly’s Comedies

   • Maurice A. Hunt

   Pages 99-125

6. Mirroring Queen Elizabeth in Love’s Labor’s Lost

   • Maurice A. Hunt

   Pages 127-150

7. A Speculative Political Allegory in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

   • Maurice A. Hunt

   Pages 151-179

8. Mirroring the Earl of Southampton in All’s Well That Ends Well

   • Maurice A. Hunt

   Pages 181-204

9. Conclusion

   • Maurice A. Hunt

   Pages 205-210

10. Back Matter

    Pages 211-263

    PDF

This is the first book-length analysis of Shakespeare s depiction of specula (mirrors) to reveal the literal and allegorical functions of mirrors in the playwright s art and thought. Adding a new dimension to the plays Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Henry the Fifth, Love s Labor s Lost, A Midsummer Night s Dream, and All s Well That Ends Well, Maurice A. Hunt also references mirrors in a wide range of external sources, from the Bible to demonic practices. Looking at the concept of speculation through its multiple meanings - cognitive, philosophical, hypothetical, and provisional - this original reading suggests Shakespeare as a craftsman so prescient and careful in his art that he was able to criticize the queen and a former patron with such impunity that he could still live as a gentleman.

• Hamlet
• Macbeth
• William Shakespeare
• British and Irish Literature

MAURICE A. HUNT is a Professor of English at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, USA.

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