Shakespeare & the Denial of Death

Front Cover
University of Massachusetts Press, 1987 - 233 pages
James L. Calderwood offers a lively exploration of the ways in which Shakespeare dramatizes the strategies people employ to deal with and transcend the inevitability of death. In keeping with the views of Ernest Becker, Norman O. Brown, and others, Calderwood argues that the denial of death is fundamental to both individuals and their cultures. By drawing on a fascinating range of examples, he suggests how often and how variously Shakespeare dramatizes this desire for symbolic immortality.

About the author (1987)

Calderwood's other books include Shakespearean Metadrama; Metadrama in Shakespeare's Henriad; To Be and Not to Be; and If It Were Done: Macbeth and Tragic Action.

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