Combining the resources of new historicism, feminism, and postmodern textual analysis, Eric Mallin reveals how contemporary pressures left their marks on three Shakespeare plays written at the end of Elizabeth's reign. Close attention to the language of Troilus and Cressida, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night reveals the ways the plays echo the events and anxieties that accompanied the beginning of the seventeenth century. Troilus reflects the rebellion of the Earl of Essex and the failure of the courtly, chivalric style. Hamlet resonates with the danger of the bubonic plague and the difficult succession history of James I. Twelfth Night is imbued with nostalgia for an earlier period of Elizabeth's rule, when her control over religious and erotic affairs seemed more secure.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1995.

"Mallin brings an astute and historically informed critical mind to bear on the numerous ways in which contagion resonates throughout the period. . . . The book is also a lucid, witty, and engaging performance in its own right, a genuine pleasure to read."—Steven Mullaney, author of The Place of the Stage

"Elegant in conception and witty in style, conversant with the broad methodological issues of early modern English cultural studies but sturdily independent in its take on current theory."—Gail Kern Paster, author of The Body Embarrassed