Shakespeare's Rise to Cultural Prominence : Politics, Print and Alteration, 1642–1700

Shakespeare's rise to prominence was by no means inevitable. While he was popular in his lifetime, the number of new editions and revivals of his plays declined over the following decades. Emma Depledge uses the methodologies of book and theatre history to provide a re-assessment of the reputation and dissemination of Shakespeare during the Interregnum and Restoration. She demonstrates the crucial role of the Exclusion Crisis (1678–1682), a political crisis over the royal succession, as a foundational moment in Shakespeare's canonisation. The period saw a sudden surge of theatrical alterations and a significantly increased rate of new editions and stage revivals. In the wake of the Exclusion Crisis, Shakespeare's plays were made available on a scale not witnessed since the early seventeenth century, thus reversing what might otherwise have been a permanent disappearance of his drama from canonical familiarity and firmly establishing Shakespeare's work in the national cultural imagination. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Dedication 7 Table of contents 9 List of illustrations 10 List of tables 11 Acknowledgements 12 Note on terminology and list of abbreviations 14 Introduction 17 Print, Politics and Alteration 18 Shakespeare Alterations 21 Shakespeare, 1642–1700 25 Chapter 1 Shakespeare in the Civil War and Interregnum Years, 1642–1659 29 Shakespeare Drolls 32 Shakespeare Ballads 39 Shakespeare and Dramatic Commonplacing 42 Alternative Entertainments after 1660 47 Drolls, Ballads and the Promotion of Shakespeare’s Name and Works 50 Chapter 2 Shakespeare on the Early Restoration Stage and Page, 1660–1677 55 Shakespeare in Print, 1660–1677 57 Shakespeare and the Patent Theatres 63 Shakespeare Alterations, 1660–1677 73 Shakespeare, Authorship and Alterations 80 Chapter 3 Shakespeare and the Exclusion Crisis, 1678–1682 83 The Exclusion Crisis 84 The New-Plays Repertory, 1678–1682 87 Material Conditions: Writing for the Exclusion Crisis Stage 91 Censorship Conditions 94 The Topicality of Shakespeare’s Plots and Characters 99 Thomas Shadwell’s Timon of Athens; or, The Man-Hater (1678) 105 Chapter 4 The Politics of Shakespeare Alterations of the Exclusion Crisis 110 Taking Hold of the Reigns 111 Effeminacy and Relations between the Sexes 120 Rape and Legitimacy 128 Chapter 5 Selling Shakespeare on the Exclusion Crisis Stage and Page 146 Prologues, Epilogues and the Attribution of Alterations to Shakespeare 150 Selling Shakespeare Alterations in Playbills 155 Reclaiming Authorship in Readerly Paratexts 160 Chapter 6 Shakespeare in the Wake of the Exclusion Crisis, 1683–1700 166 Shakespeare in Print, 1683–1700 167 Shakespeare in Print, 1683–1685 172 The Fourth Folio of 1685 175 Shakespeare in Print, 1685–1700 177 Shakespeare in Performance, 1683–1700 180 Shakespeare’s Authorship in Alterations, 1683–1700 182 Notes 187 Introduction 187 1 Shakespeare in the Civil War and Interregnum Years, 1642–1659 192 2 Shakespeare on the Early Restoration Stage and Page, 1660–1677 201 3 Shakespeare and the Exclusion Crisis, 1678–1682 209 4 The Politics of Shakespeare Alterations of the Exclusion Crisis 220 5 Selling Shakespeare on the Exclusion Crisis Stage and Page 228 6 Shakespeare in the Wake of the Exclusion Crisis, 1683–1700 233 Works Cited 240 Index 263 Combining scholarly methodologies of book and theatre history this book argues that the watershed moment in Shakespeare's authorial afterlife came not in the eighteenth century, as critics have suggested, but instead as a result of a succession dispute known as the Exclusion Crisis, 1678-1682. Argues That The Exclusion Crisis Of 1678-82 Should Be Considered The Watershed Moment In Shakespeare's Authorial Afterlife.