The current standing of William Shakespeare as the unrivalled hero on
the stage of English and world literature was largely the product of the
eighteenth century. From revivals of Shakespeare’s plays early in the
century onwards, the fame and public esteem of the up to that point
relatively minor cultural figure grew exponentially and came to a head
in the period now commonly referred to as Romanticism. In this period,
spanning the last decades of the eighteenth and most of the first half
of the nineteenth century, Shakespeare became a central influence and
reflector for a new generation of writers and artists, from William
Blake and Walter Scott to Charlotte Smith and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
His works proved a rich rhetorical and thematic reservoir which the
Romantics raided to construct their own poetic visions and imaginaries,
while his increasing popularity as a cultural icon offered many the
opportunity to appropriate him for their own commercial and political
ends. In this course we will examine and discuss a variety of media
exemplifying the Romantic fascination with but also re-imagination of
Shakespeare, including literary engagements with his work and person but
also other cultural and artistic products, like paintings or political
writings, all showcasing the period’s manifold obsession with ‘the
Bard’.
- Trainer/in: Paul Hamann-Rose