Abstract

Exciting analyses of The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Julius Caesar, and King Lear. The authors, political science professors, are anxious to point to the political as an underemphasized dimension of Shakespeare's plays, and they try to substantiate their case by making explicit the political settings of four plays. The deepest, most ingenious political analysis is of the first scene of Lear. Briefly, Jaffa argues that the division of his kingdom by England's most successful king is judiciously calculated to maintain a balance of power with France and Burgundy and to preserve harmony and unity at home. The chief aim of the love-test is to obtain political pledges from the elder daughters. In the case of Cordelia it becomes self-referentially inconsistent because the presuppositions of love and incarnated justice conflict, and the plan is wrecked. Lear's makeshift plan is disastrous, and his spiritual Odyssey consists in coming to recognize the inconsistency in his original plan. The book stands as a challenge to standard interpretations, and should serve the student admirably.—P. S.