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Chapter 5 - Race in Shakespeare’s Histories
- By Andrew Hadfield
Edited by Ayanna Thompson, Arizona State University
Book:

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race

Published online:

09 February 2021

Print publication:

25 February 2021, pp 62-76
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Summary

This essay explores the significance of genealogy and inheritance in Shakespeare’s history plays; specifically, the idea that national and racial characteristics were passed down through the generations in the blood. The word "race" is often applied to peoples produced by the intermingling of different lineages and with different characteristics. The essay shows that such issues were important not just for royal dynasties but for the people they ruled, as is demonstrated through readings of King Henry V, King Richard II, and King John. When races are imagined in such ways the word "bastard" assumes particular importance, as the progeny of two different people(s) taking on new characteristics from a combination of those of the parents. Shakespeare demonstrates in his English history plays that nations and races are never pure, but are always intermingled, compromised, revitalized, and constantly transformed by their union with other peoples, especially the neighbours in terms of whom they define themselves.

Part XXI - Audiences
- By Lori Humphrey Newcomb
Edited by Bruce R. Smith, University of Southern California
Edited in association with Katherine Rowe, Smith College, Massachusetts
With Ton Hoenselaars, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands, Akiko Kusunoki, Andrew Murphy, Trinity College Dublin, Aimara da Cunha Resende, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Book:

The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare

Published online:

17 August 2019

Print publication:

21 January 2016, pp 1483-1544
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Part XIX - Translation
- By Dirk Delabastita
Edited by Bruce R. Smith, University of Southern California
Edited in association with Katherine Rowe, Smith College, Massachusetts
With Ton Hoenselaars, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands, Akiko Kusunoki, Andrew Murphy, Trinity College Dublin, Aimara da Cunha Resende, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Book:

The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare

Published online:

17 August 2019

Print publication:

21 January 2016, pp 1339-1416
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209 - Shakespearean Players in Early Modern Europe
from Part XXI - Audiences
- By Pavel Drábek, M. A. Katritzky
Edited by Bruce R. Smith, University of Southern California
Edited in association with Katherine Rowe, Smith College, Massachusetts
With Ton Hoenselaars, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands, Akiko Kusunoki, Andrew Murphy, Trinity College Dublin, Aimara da Cunha Resende, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Book:

The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare

Published online:

17 August 2019

Print publication:

21 January 2016, pp 1527-1533
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186 - Signing Shakespeare (ASL)
from Part XIX - Translation
- By Peter Novak
Edited by Bruce R. Smith, University of Southern California
Edited in association with Katherine Rowe, Smith College, Massachusetts
With Ton Hoenselaars, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands, Akiko Kusunoki, Andrew Murphy, Trinity College Dublin, Aimara da Cunha Resende, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Book:

The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare

Published online:

17 August 2019

Print publication:

21 January 2016, pp 1357-1362
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