Asquith - Shadowplay The Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare

In this heartily convincing study, Ms. Asquith makes a solid and surprising case for Shakespeare as a political dissident her assertions offer a fascinating new angle from which to explore Shakespeares ever-surprising work.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

One of the most astonishing and original books ever written about Shakespeare argued with profound scholarship, unfailing resource and steady, imperturbable brilliance.

The Catholic Herald

Clare Asquiths textual criticism is a marvel; eminently readable scholarship.

Sir John Keegan

Shadowplay turns a period in English history on its head as well as our most important playwrights role in the time. Thanks to Asquiths ability to decode and clarify his dissident yet patriotic message, the authors simply explained, painstaking research leads the reader down mysterious alleys with the same ease as the best thriller writer. Shadowplay is a masterpiece of precise scholarship uncovering Englands most brilliant playwrights politics, religious beliefs and dramatic fight for his countrys freedoms.

The Evening Standard

This is a book of thrilling scholarship and great daring. Any venture into Shakespearean investigation requires panache, deep affection for the man, and a delicate balance between nerve and learning. Clare Asquith has rendered all of these elegantly and has also, uniquely, kept pace with the great emotions in the works she scrutinises.

Frank Delaney, Author of Ireland: A Novel

[T]hought-provoking, judicious and valuable.

Providence Journal (Best Books of 2005)

Even if only half of Clare Asquiths argument turns out to be correct, shes written the most visceral, challenging, compelling book on Shakespeares place in history weve had for over 20 years.

John Guy, author of Tudor England

In turning each and every one of Shakespeares works into an allegory, Asquith shows great ingenuity.

Catholic Review

[A] revelatory survey of the Shakespearean corpus. altogether magnificent.

Booklist (starred review)

Asquith shines an extraordinary light on the symbolism and possible intentions of Shakespeares work. Asquiths multifaceted examination reveals as much about the history of 17th-century England as it does about the playwright and his plays, and should intrigue admirers of both.

Publishers Weekly

[Shadowplay] takes known fragmentary facts that tie Shakespeare in his youth to Roman Catholic recusancy figures and links it to an intricate, fascinating and occasionally mind-boggling world of coded words and messages, all veiling a brilliant critique of Tudor cruelty and despotism.

Toronto Globe & Mail

Shadowplay may change the way that Shakespeare is read. Asquith has peeled back and uncovered layers of Elizabethan history and references that enable us to read Shakespeare more fully.

Buffalo News

It is rare when a work of such painstaking scholarship is both so dramatic, important and exciting to read. Lucidly and persuasively, Clare Asquith takes us through the complexities of religious politics in Elizabethan England, and reveals the anguished debates hidden in the text of Shakespeares plays. Shadowplay: The Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare solves many of the puzzles that have perplexed scholars over the years, dramatically enhances our understanding of the dramas of our greatest playwright and, in my view, will lead to a seismic shift in our understanding of our past.

Piers Paul Read

Clare Asquith is an inspired and compelling code-breakerher fascinating study takes us into the concealed heart of the English identity and shows that the Catholic Shakespeare was an exemplary and committed writer, not simply the famously protean bard who resists all attempts to pin down his beliefs. Shadowplay is a remarkable and exciting work of scholarship which shows us the deep structures of Shakespeares imagination.

Tom Paulin

TO

A NNE O XFORD

Solver of puzzles

Lover of Shakespeare

As an unperfect actor on the stage,

Who with his fear is put besides his part,

Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,

Whose strengths abundance weakens his own heart;

So I for fear of trust forget to say

The perfect ceremony of loves right [rite],

And in mine own loves strength seem to decay,

Oercharged with burden of mine own loves might:

O let my books be then the eloquence,

And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,

Who plead for love, and look for recompense,

More than that love which [M]ore hath more expressed.

O learn to read what silent love hath writ,

To hear with eyes belongs to loves fine wit.

W ILLIAM S HAKESPEARE , Sonnet 23