1: Introduction to Shakespeare's world -- The birth of the bard -- A London career -- Elizabeth's Europe -- Renaissance Europe -- Exploration and expansion -- 2: William Shakespeare's life -- Shakespeare's ancestry -- John and Mary Shakespeare -- Decline of family fortunes -- Stratford-upon-Avon -- Shakespeare's education -- Literary influences -- Early dramatic influences -- Marriage and children -- Retirement and death -- Legends about William Shakespeare -- 3: Shakespeare's poems and plays -- The narrative poems -- The sonnets -- The plays -- The comedies and romances -- The history plays -- Late romances -- The tragedies -- 4: Performance and criticism -- Anti-Stratfordian theories -- Shakespeare's contemporaries -- Shakespeare's critics -- Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton -- The university wits versus the grammarians -- Shakespeare's theaters -- Acting troupes -- Sources for Shakespeare's writing -- Characters and themes -- Critical theory: approaches to reading Shakespeare -- 5: Elizabeth's England -- The tudor dynasty -- Queen Elizabeth's I -- Elizabeth's government -- Elizabethan economy -- James Stuart I of England -- 6: Shakespeare's society -- Ancient history of England -- Games and sports -- Holidays -- Music -- Folk sayings and practices -- Shakespeare's English -- Printers -- Playhouses -- London in the sixteenth century -- Medicine -- Death and burial -- Ghosts and witchcraft -- Military service -- Punishments -- 7: Christianity -- Tudor reform -- Versions of the Bible -- Catholicism and the Anglican Church (or Church of England) -- Elizabeth's acts of supremacy and uniformity -- Puritans -- Protestantism -- The reformation -- European Protestantism -- The counter-reformation -- Other faiths -- 8: The Elizabethan social order -- The farmlands -- Households -- Social ranks -- Titles and ranks -- Women -- Marriage and family -- Minorities -- 9: The European effect -- Austria -- Hungary -- Italy -- Southern Europe -- Spain -- Portugal -- France -- Germany and central Europe -- The Netherlands -- Scotland -- Ireland -- Poland -- Denmark -- 10: The renaissance -- The great chain of being -- Humanism -- The European renaissance -- Alternative lifestyles-- Noble women -- 11: Eastern empires -- Russia -- Africa -- Arabia -- Persia (modern-day Iran) -- Palestine -- The Ottoman empire -- Australia -- China and Cathay -- Japan -- East Asia -- India -- 12: Western worlds -- The Americas -- Mexico and South America -- English colonies -- Native Americans -- New world writing.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.