Political Wisdom in Late Shakespeare

The four last plays of Shakespeare’s First Folio— Cymbeline , The Tempest , Henry VIII , and The Winter’s Tale —provide underappreciated resources for political thought and reflection. Political Wisdom in Late Shakespeare: A Way Out of the Wreck examines the ruling communities in each of these plays, exploring what virtues are dramatized as necessary in a courtier’s fulfillment of his or her political obligations. By lending courtly virtues their close attention, Shakespearean audiences can bett