TY  - BOOK
AU  - Wills,Garry
TI  - Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth 
SN  - 0195088794
AV  - PR 2823 W741w 1995
U1  - 822.3/3 
PY  - 1995///
CY  - New York
PB  - New York Public Library, Oxford University Press
KW  - Shakespeare, William,
KW  - Shakespeare, William, 
KW  - Macbeth,
KW  - Macbeth, 
KW  - Jesuits
KW  - In literature
KW  - Jesuitas en la literatura
KW  - Literature and history
KW  - England
KW  - History
KW  - 17th century
KW  - Literatura e historia
KW  - Inglaterra
KW  - Siglo XVII
KW  - Gunpowder Plot, 1605
KW  - Historiography
KW  - Witchcraft in literature
KW  - Brujería en la literatura
KW  - Tragedy
KW  - Teatro inglés
N1  - Based on a series of lectures; Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-202) and indexes; Introduction: The trouble with Macbeth
Gunpowder
Witches
Male witch
Lady Macbeth
Jesuits
Malcolm
Macbeth
Conclusion: The test of performance
Appendix I: Date of the play
Appendix II: Text of the play
Key to brief citations
N2  - In Witches and Jesuits, Wills focuses on a single document to open up a window on an entire society. He begins with a simple question: If Macbeth is such a great tragedy, why do performances of it so often fail? Wills maintains that the fault lies not in Shakespeare's play, but in ourselves. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of the vivid intrigue and drama of Jacobean England, Wills restores Macbeth's suspenseful tension by returning it to the context of its own time, recreating the burning theological and political crises of Shakespeare's era, such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when a small cell of Jesuits came within a hairsbreadth of successfully blowing up not only the king, but the prince his heir, and all members of the court and Parliament. Wills likens their shock to that endured by Americans following Pearl Harbour or the Kennedy assassination. In this new light, Macbeth is transformed. Wills presents a drama that is more than a well-scripted story of a murderer getting his just penalty, it is the struggle for the soul of a nation. Rich in insight and a joy to read, Witches and Jesuits is a tour de force of scholarship and imagination by one of our foremost writers, essential reading for anyone who loves the language.
UR  - http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0640/94014201-d.html
UR  - http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0726/94014201-b.html
ER  -