Shakespeare's Roman worlds /

In this important study of Shakespeare's Roman plays, Thomas (University of Birmingham) interprets the plays in the context of their sources, documenting Shakespeare's direct borrowings, elisions, and interpolations to reveal both the art and intentions of the playwright. The protagonists are shown within the social universe of a primitive and later civilized Rome that is "driven by a sense of mission" and is "powerfully articulated" in the plays. New views controvert Maurice Charney's (Shakespeare's Roman Plays, 1961) and others, coinciding more closely with those of T.J.B. Spencer (in Shakespeare Survey, 1957), and they compel scholarly reconsideration of standard interpretations. In the course of analysis, attention is also paid to the complex interplay of theoretical elements--sound and gesture, word and deeds, speech and action--which give special meaning to the texts. Chapters correspond with conventional chronology and discuss Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. There follow a concluding chapter, endnotes (full of annoying ibids), an extensive bibliography, and an abbreviated (almost useless) index. Essential for all college-level and specialized libraries, the book is free of jargon and would be useful also to general readers. -F. K. Barasch, Bernard M. Baruch College, CUNY