Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics

Tyrant is an examination of Shakespeare's exploration of government, society, and tyrannical figures throughout his plays. Chapters are sorted by topic (the influence of party politics on the rise of tyrants, the abuse for populism for political gain, the types and importance of enablers, the influence of personality and mental illness on tyrannical behavior, etcetera) and tend to examine one or two plays/characters at a time, complete with helpful quotations citing act, scene, and line. I only vaguely remember reading Hamlet and Macbeth in highschool, and was pleasantly surprised with how much I learned about the plays themselves over the course of Tyrant. I was also thankful that Greenblatt included so much information regarding the historical context of elizabethan England; it added a lot to my appreciation of the playwright's angled exploration of issues of power, something that weighed on everyone's mind, though it was something that could not be openly spoken of for fear of treason accusations. When a work is removed from its historical context, a vital part necessary for understanding the text is lost. The political landscape of near omnipotent kings and queens and the shifting tides of power between royal houses is an extremely important part of Shakespeare's plays that is only seen in its historical context, and that is something that most people do not stop to consider. Some other reviews complain that Tyrant is a thinly veiled criticism of Trump and the Trump administration, but that is not because Greenblatt wrote a criticism of Trump and called an examination of Shakespeare. It is because Greenblatt wrote about Shakespeare's criticism of tyrants. If you don't think Trump is a budding tyrant but still see the parallels to tyrannical characters, perhaps you should think about that connection more. All in all, Tyrant is a very well written work on Shakespeare's characters, plays, and the playwright's exploration of political power and I would recommend it.

One would have to be extraordinarily dense not to see at whom this wonderful little book is aimed. Nonetheless, it is a wonderful thoughtful treatment of issues that merit serious thought in America - and perhaps the Western World - today. I am skeptical that Shakespeare was the liberal Enlightenment figure that Greenblatt suggests, but this doesn’t in any way detract from his splendid observations. I heartily recommend this book for high IQ beach reading this summer and I feel enriched by the time and effort I spent with it. One point upon which I disagree with the author however is his reading of Coriolanus. To Greenblatt this is an essay in social democracy and a diatribe against authoritarianism. That approach overlooks the fact that the play is a tragedy, Shakespeare’s last and that it’s source is Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Romans. Coriolanus is no fascist because he is the essential anti-populist who eschews all of the sleazier tools of the tyrant. To the contrary, the Bard reserves - quite properly- his contempt for Coriolanus’s foils, the tribunes, who practice the sophistries and demagoguery so attacked in Richard and MacBeth. In that misdirection, Greenblatt abandons much of the high ground of his otherwise fine essay.

This is dense Shakespeare. I am not his scholar. It discusses the playwrights focus on people of power, how they got there, and finally what they do with it. To my judgement, it demonstrates after 400 years that humanity is up to the same old pathology on a more global stage. Autocrats everywhere.

Rarely have I enjoyed a piece of political commentary as much as I did Stephen Greenblatt’s Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics. In William Shakespeare’s day, it wasn’t safe to disagree with power. Unlike today’s America, with the protections of the First Amendment, his world was governed by the near-absolute power of the monarch, the aging Queen Elizabeth. And speaking ill of the queen led to swift and often deadly punishment. Instead, the Bard through his plays would examine the ways and means of tyranny, delving into the past and into foreign lands to create his voices that could say what could not be said frankly (“Greenblatt is the Harvard Shakespeare expert who co-founded new historicism, the lit-crit practice that seeks to place works in their historical context.”) In the vein of speaking obliquely, this is Greenblatt’s commentary on Donald Trump, though the president is not named in its pages. Instead, the Tyrant focuses on several of the same that appear in Shakespeare's plays, examining them in their foibles for the causes and results of their tyranny. The book is rooted in an article that Greenblatt wrote for the New York Times in 2016. At a friend’s encouragement, he expanded it to a full book. He focuses his examination on Macbeth, Richard III, Lear, Coriolanus and Leontes from A Winter’s Tale (notably leaving out Claudius, perhaps because he is more well-known than most). While it is ostensibly a commentary on politics, it does not read like just another piece of political punditry or tribal drivel. On the contrary, Greenblatt makes Shakespeare accessible and, well, interesting, as well as providing principles that can be read and interpreted to apply to almost any power selfish politicians or businessman. Reading it is as enjoyable as watching Shakespeare performed well. As Constance Grady puts it in her review of the book, “There is a certain pleasure to watching Shakespeare’s tyrants work, to watching Richard III brazenly woo Lady Anne over the body of a man he killed or listening to Macbeth’s mournful, poetic speeches.” Perhaps the biggest observation for me, and where the book most departs from other books that more directly take on Trump, is that Tyrant leaves the reader to make his own observations and conclusions. Here is what a tyrant does; is this what we are living through?

Very interesting reading. A new way to see Shakespeare's work.

prompt delivery and excellent item

"Shakespeare on Power" and "Shakespeare on Politics" are IDENTICAL books.You should make that clear to your customers!

enjoyed this book

Like many academics, Stephen Greenblatt is angry about the way things are going in the United States. He's found a unique way to express that anger. Many of Shakespeare's plays can be read as thinly-disguised riffs on the politics of his own era, which was a taboo subject at the time, literally on pain of death. Greenblatt shows that Shakespeare's analysis and conclusions can readily be used to cast light on current events. Much of the book focuses on the historical plays, notably Richard III and Henry VI. Greenblatt teases out some subtle meanings but makes sure everyone, even those who have never read the plays, gets the point. One example: in Greeblatt's opinion, Richard Plantagenet's goals included "Make England Great Again"! Greenblatt also looks at King Lear, Julius Caesar and (least convincingly, at least for me) Macbeth, but it's the histories that have the most resonance. If you love Shakespeare and are always on the lookout for some fresh interpretations, Tyrant is well worth a look.