A Place in the Story: Servants and Service in Shakespeare's PlaysThis 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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 43
Page 9
... represen- tations of French queens , Scottish thanes , or Athenian workmen . To the extent that Shakespeare's servant - characters " are de- scribed as faithful reflections of the servants of Elizabethan En- 9 Preface.
... represen- tations of French queens , Scottish thanes , or Athenian workmen . To the extent that Shakespeare's servant - characters " are de- scribed as faithful reflections of the servants of Elizabethan En- 9 Preface.
Page 10
... Elizabethan En- gland , " I think that description is largely incorrect , unless we accept that reflections can be distorted . Certainly , the servants in the plays are based on real servants and much of what they do is realistic : they ...
... Elizabethan En- gland , " I think that description is largely incorrect , unless we accept that reflections can be distorted . Certainly , the servants in the plays are based on real servants and much of what they do is realistic : they ...
Page 25
... Elizabethan comics are the unfunniest parts ever written . . . Some day I should like to run a competition to find out the unfunniest clown in Shakespeare . There's a lot of choice , from that dreadful Launcelot Gobbo to the ...
... Elizabethan comics are the unfunniest parts ever written . . . Some day I should like to run a competition to find out the unfunniest clown in Shakespeare . There's a lot of choice , from that dreadful Launcelot Gobbo to the ...
Page 30
... Elizabethans also denigrated ser- vice , most famously in the common proverb " Service is no heri- tage . " Nor should we ignore the fact that many servants in Shakespeare's period were oppressed or the usefulness for so- cial control ...
... Elizabethans also denigrated ser- vice , most famously in the common proverb " Service is no heri- tage . " Nor should we ignore the fact that many servants in Shakespeare's period were oppressed or the usefulness for so- cial control ...
Page 31
... Elizabethan upper classes certainly used the discourse of service to explain and justify inequality and oppression , as pro- paganda for the idea that the way things were was the way God wanted them to be : " To serve or obey well , is ...
... Elizabethan upper classes certainly used the discourse of service to explain and justify inequality and oppression , as pro- paganda for the idea that the way things were was the way God wanted them to be : " To serve or obey well , is ...
Contents
19 | |
30 | |
The need we have to use you Uses of Servants | 63 |
The mere words a slave Language and Service | 88 |
If I last in this service Loyalty and Disloyalty | 116 |
Good counsel Servants Advice and Commentary | 143 |
Messengers | 158 |
Tis proper I obey him but not now Conflicts of Service | 177 |
Other editions - View all
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 betray 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 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
Popular passages
Page 31 - That to the observer doth thy history Fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings Are not thine own so proper, as to waste Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee. Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike As if we had them not.
Page 6 - The loyalty well held to fools does make Our faith mere folly : yet he that can endure To follow with allegiance a fall'n lord Does conquer him that did his master conquer, And earns a place i
Page 33 - O good old man, how well in thee appears The constant service of the antique world, When service sweat for duty, not for meed...