Foreign Location and Political Criticism in Shakespearean Comedy: Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It

  1. John D. Sanderson Pastor 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Alicante / Universitat d'Alacant
Book:
Shakespeare and the Representation of Political Power: Readings for the Twenty-First Century

Publisher: Reichenberger

ISBN: 978-3-967280-64-7

Year of publication: 2024

Pages: 131-151

Type: Book chapter

GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Abstract

By locating Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It in foreign countries, Shakespeare presents national characters from a derogatory perspective, but also refers indirectly to Elizabethan controversial issues. The crisis of patriarchy is mirrored on plots happening abroad but recognizable at home, as well as on a contradictory approach to rituals and fashion, and the roots of social unrest which lead to the Enclosure Riots, all solved here by archetypical English cultural elements.