Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS v
3. List of Illustrations vii
4. Acknowledgements viii
5. Texts and Editions ix
6. Notes on Contributors x
7. Introduction: Shakespeare’s late plays 1
8. PART I. MATERNITY AND MANLINESS
9. 1 ‘Gracious be the issue’: maternity and narrative in Shakespeare’s late plays 25
10. 2 ‘Thou hast made me now a man’: reforming man(ner)liness in Henry VIII 40
11. 3 ‘Near akin’: the trials of friendship in The Two Noble Kinsmen 57
12. PART II. ART, AESTHETICS AND SOCIETY
13. 4 Social decorum in The Winter's Tale 75
14. 5 Pericles and the Pox 92
15. 6 Insubstantial pageants: The Tempest and masquing culture 108
16. 7 ‘An art lawful as eating’? Magic in The Tempest and The Winter's Tale 126
17. PART III HISTORY AND INTERPRETATION
18. 8 Postcolonial Shakespeare: British identity formation and Cymbeline 145
19. 9 History and judgement in Henry VIII 158
20. 10 ‘To write and read / Be henceforth treacherous’: Cymbeline and the problem of interpretation 176
21. PART IV ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS
22. 11 Unseasonable laughter: the context of Cardenio 193
23. 12 Tears at the wedding: Shakespeare’s last phase 210
24. Bibliography 228
25. Index 247