Annotated Bibliography: Shakespeare Research Paper-

The Cultural Significant of Love and Marriage in Shakespearean England

Traub, Valerie. “Daughters, Wives, and Widows: Writings by Men About Women and Marriage in England, 1500-1640. Joan Larsen Kleinfashioning Femininity and English Renaissance Drama. Karen Newmanstaging the Gaze: Postmodernism, Psychoanalysis, and Shakespearean Comedy. Barbara Freedman.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 20.1 (1994): 200-204. Print.

This source analyzes the cultural context of women and marriage in the time period in which Shakespeare wrote. Because this particular source focuses on women as well as Shakespeare’s comedies, I will use the work to view the play Much Ado About Nothing through a feminine lens, and comedic lens, then an intersectional combination of both. The psychoanalysis aspect of the source in particular will allow me to approach the character Beatrice and how her personality and character development play into a culturally charged perception of marriage. With this source, I will ultimately answer the question, what was the role of the woman in this socio-economic action and were her feelings truly taken into consideration?

Dolan, Frances E. “Shakespeare and Marriage: an Open Question.” Literature Compass. 8.9 (2011): 620-634. Print.

This source with serve mostly as a historical record of the progression of marriage during Shakespeare’s lifetime. This includes its meaning economically, socially, culturally, and personally. The idea behind this source is that marriage was often used to achieve certain things. I will take the historical context that this source provides and directly apply it to the plot progression of the play which I am analyzing, Much Ado About Nothing. This will ideally provide cultural context in which I can place the plot progression of the play, the characters participating in the marriages, and the character who have something to say about it.

Barker, Camilla R. “Shackles in Shakespeare: on the Falsity of Personal Liberty in Renaissance England.” Liverpool Law Review : a Journal of Contemporary Legal and Social Policy Issues. 35.1 (2014): 25-42. Print.

This source approaches marriage as a socio-legal process as well as conflict, implying that marriage’s purpose in Shakespeare’s work exists solely to contribute conflict to the plot, the characters, and the story’s meaning as a whole. In other words, marriages serves only to complicate the story. From a literary perspective, however, this is not really a problem seeing as it progresses the plot and provides exigence for the characters within the story. The source views Shakespeare’s work through a more philosophical lens, so I will use this piece of research to evaluate the feeling that the time-period-relevant audience would have had when observing Shakespeare’s work at the time it was originally produced.

Charney, Maurice. Shakespeare on Love & Lust. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. Internet resource

This particular source focuses on the role of love. I will use that as more of a backhand type of support, to understand character motive in the pursuit of marriage. This source makes a comparison to time-relevant audiences and contemporary audiences, so using this will allow me to contrast the difference in audiences’ reception of the presence of love in its relationship to marriage. It also touches on homoerotic themes in Shakespeare’s work which will allow me to approach these theories from a more avant-garde focused perspective, that will provide new and interesting angles outside of socio-economic and cultural significance.

Jardine, Lisa. Reading Shakespeare Historically. London: Routledge, 1996. Internet resource.

One chapter in this book focuses on unlawful marriage in Shakespeare’s work. I will use this to approach marriage in its context as a result of love and love alone. The social and cultural effect of unlawful marriage that I expect to find within that particular chapter will allow me to contextualize just how significant marriage without socio-political motives and advantages would have been during that time period, and moreover, how an audience would have received it versus how a contemporary audience would receive it now.