{"product_id":"9780814253229","title":"Virgil and The Tempest: The Politics of Imitation","description":"\u003ci\u003eVirgil and \u003cb\u003eThe Tempest\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e offers a new assessment of the art and politics of Shakespeare's comic masterpiece by examining its relationship to both the contemporary political context and to Virgil's \u003ci\u003eAeneid.\u003c\/i\u003e Challenging the view that \u003ci\u003eThe Tempest\u003c\/i\u003e supports the absolutist theories and policies of King James I, Donna Hamilton instead shows how the play represents an argument for a limited monarchy.\u003cbr\u003e Virgil and James I each represent a set of symbols and idioms that Shakespeare appropriates for his own use in \u003ci\u003eThe Tempest\u003c\/i\u003e. In the process, he pays homage to their respective eminence and brings them into dialogical relation with each other, changing the language to suit his purposes. This means rewriting the \u003ci\u003eAeneid\u003c\/i\u003e to suit a new time and situation, and it means subtly altering the king's language to present a strong argument for constitutionalism.\u003cbr\u003e Scholars who have emphasized the \"transcendent\" Shakespeare have sometimes failed to recognize the playwright's passion for resistance, a passion nowhere more cunningly present than in \u003ci\u003eThe Tempest\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e Hamilton analyzes Shakespeare's practice of rhetorical imitation in \u003ci\u003eThe Tempest\u003c\/i\u003e by comparing him to other Renaissance imitators of Virgil. She also considers three contemporary political issues-the situation of the royal children, the 1610 parliamentary debates on royal prerogative, and the colonization projects in Virginia and Ireland-and their bearing on the play. The result is a fresh contribution to the current interest in Shakespeare's relationship to the courts of Elizabeth I and James I.\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDonna Hamilton\u003c\/b\u003e is Associate Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ohio State University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47030618325232,"sku":"9780814253229","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780814253229_p0.jpg?v=1763744105","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780814253229","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}