Shakespeare on Masculinity

Shakespeare on Masculinity is an important and original study of the way Shakespeare''s plays engage with a subject that provoked bitter public dispute. Robin Headlam Wells argues that Shakespeare took a skeptical view of the militant-Protestant cult of heroic masculinity. Following a series of brilliant portraits of the dangerously charismatic warrior-hero Shakespeare turned at the end of his writing career to a different kind of leader. Plays receiving close readings include The Tempest Henry V Troilus and Cressida Hamlet Othello Macbeth and Coriolanus.