
audiobook
THE - PHILOSOPHY - OF - THE PLAYS OF SHAKSPERE - UNFOLDED. - BY DELIA BACON. - WITH - A PREFACE - BY - NATHANIAL HAWTHORNE AUTHOR OF 'THE SCARLET LETTER,' ETC
AMES PRESS NEW YORK - HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DEC 6, 1972
AMS PRESS, INC. NEW YORK, N.Y. 10003 - PREFACE - INTRODUCTION.
BOOK I
THE ELIZABETHAN ART OF DELIVERY AND TRADITION. - PART I. - MICHAEL DE MONTAIGNE'S 'PRIVATE AND RETIRED ARTS.'
PART II. - THE BACONIAN RHETORIC, OR THE METHOD OF PROGRESSION.
V. THE SCIENCE OF MORALITY.—ALTERATION
BOOK II. - ELIZABETHAN 'SECRETS OF MORALITY AND POLICY'; OR, THE FABLES OF THE NEW LEARNING. - INTRODUCTORY.
PART I. - LEAR'S PHILOSOPHER; - [OR, THE LAW OF THE 'SPECIAL AND RESPECTIVE DUTIES,' DEFINED AND 'ILLUSTRATED' IN TABLES OF 'PRESENCE' AND 'ABSENCE.']
PART II. - JULIUS CAESAR AND CORIOLANUS. - THE SCIENTIFIC CURE OF THE COMMON-WEAL; - OR, - 'THE COMMON DUTY OF EVERY MAN AS A MAN, OR MEMBER OF A STATE,' DEFINED AND ILLUSTRATED IN 'NEGATIVE INSTANCES' AND 'INSTANCES OF PRESENCE.' - JULIUS CAESAR; - OR, THE EMPIRICAL TREATMENT IN DISEASES OF THE COMMON-WEAL EXAMINED.
This volume invites listeners to explore the hidden philosophical currents that run through the plays traditionally ascribed to Shakespeare. Drawing on the intellectual climate of Elizabethan England, it situates the dramas within the broader debates of morality, politics, and scientific method that shaped the era. The author’s approach blends historical detail with careful textual analysis, offering a fresh lens on familiar works.
The book is organized into thematic sections that examine the moral and civic ideas embedded in specific plays. Early chapters discuss the influence of Baconian rhetoric and the “art of delivery” on dramatic construction, while later parts turn to tragedies such as Julius Caesar and Coriolanus, probing questions of tyranny, duty, and the common good. Along the way, familiar comedies like Love’s Labour’s Lost are shown to echo the same intellectual concerns.
Through a series of concise aphorisms and illustrated arguments, the work makes complex scholarly insights approachable for audio listeners. It serves anyone curious about how Renaissance philosophy informs the timeless stories that continue to captivate audiences today.
Language
en
Duration
~24 hours (1420K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
2005-06-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1811–1859
Best remembered for challenging the traditional story of who wrote Shakespeare’s plays, this 19th-century American writer built a reputation as a bold, unconventional literary thinker. Her life mixed real success as a lecturer and author with years of controversy, isolation, and intense dedication to a theory few accepted in her lifetime.
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