Critical Archive

Critical Overview

More has been written about Shakespeare, by far, than about any other writer ever. With Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte, he competes for the title of the most written-about person in the history of the human race. To list the various critical categories and to describe how they can be applied to the vast richness and depth of his works would be at best an exercise in the obvious.

Sociological, Deconstructionist, and Gender Criticism:

As a demonstration of Shakespeare's own infinite variety, and of his work's ability to profit from— and in some instances to withstand— contemporary modes of inquiry, is the fact that in recent years he has been subjected to a considerable amount of sociological, deconstructionist, and gender criticism, particularly in terms of feminist re-readings and re-interpretations of the canon.

One compact compendium of such recent researches, as applied to a very familiar text, is Suzanne L. Wofford's edition of Hamlet in the series of Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism (Boston and New York: St. Martin's, 1994). In addition to a complete, annotated text of the play itself, she provides analyses of and bibliographies for five contemporary critical modes, and reprints a representative essay on Hamlet within each category. The essays are by Elaine Showalter (Feminist), Janet Adelman (Psychoanalytic), Marjorie Garber (Deconstructionist), Michael D. Bristol (Marxist), and Karin S. Coddon (New Historicist).

Additional Resources: The eighth edition of Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama includes in-depth critical analysis of Shakespeare's work by Ben Jonson, A. C. Bradley, Rebecca West, Jan Kott, Joel Wingard, W. H. Auden, Maud Bodkin, Virginia Mason Vaughan, Anthony Burgess, John Russell Brown, Lincoln Kirstein, and Linda Bamber. Please refer to your textbook.

The Bibliography includes an extended list of writings about William Shakespeare. Continue your Web Explorations by visiting Shakespeare Links.

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