A Place in the Story: Servants and Service in Shakespeare's PlaysUniversity of Delaware Press, 2005 - 339 pages This book explores the virtues Shakespeare made of the cultural necessities of servants and service. Although all of Shakespeare's plays feature servants as characters, and many of these characters play prominent roles, surprisingly little attention has been paid to them or to the concept of service. A Place in the Story is the first book-length overview of the uses Shakespeare makes of servant-characters and the early modern concept of service. Service was not only a fact of life in Shakespeare's era, but also a complex ideology. The book discusses service both as an ideal and an insult, examines how servants function in the plays, and explores the language of service. Other topics include loyalty, advice, messengers, conflict, disobedience, and violence. Servants were an intrinsic part of early modern life and Shakespeare found servant-characters and the concept of service useful in many different ways. Linda Anderson teaches at Virginia Polytechnic University. |
Other editions - View all
A Place in the Story: Servants and Service in Shakespeare's Plays Linda Anderson Limited preview - 2005 |
A Place in the Story: Servants and Service in Shakespeare's Plays Linda Anderson No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
All's Antony and Cleopatra Antony's appears Arden audience Ballads Berry Caesar Caliban Camillo Charmian Comedy comic command conflict Coriolanus critics death declares depicted describes disguise disobedience Drama Duke duty early modern edited Elizabethan Emilia employers England Enobarbus example Falstaff Fool Gloucester Hamlet Henry Henry IV Henry VI household Iago Iago's ideal John Kent kill King Lear knave Lady Leontes London Lord loyal loyalty Macbeth Malvolio masterless Masters and Servants Merry Wives messenger mistress murder noble obedience Olivia Oswald Othello play's Politics Prince Queen refers Renaissance repr reward Richard Richard II Romeo and Juliet says scene seems servant-characters serve Shake Shakespeare and Social Shakespeare Quarterly Shakespeare's plays sing slave Social Class speare's Steward suggests tells thee Thomas thou Timon Timon of Athens tion Titus Titus Andronicus Tragedy Troilus Twelfth Night University Press upper-class characters Upstart Crow vants villain violence virtuous William Winter Winter's Tale women York