Tyrant: Shakespeare On Power by Stephen Greenblatt Book Review

An especially timely read for a year of contentious elections, Stephen Greenblatt’s Tyrant: Shakespeare on Power seeks Shakespeare’s answer to the question, “How is it possible for a whole country to fall into the hands of a tyrant?” (Greenblatt p.1).

Blending close readings of Shakespeare with examinations of early modern history and allusions to contemporary politics, Greenblatt makes the case that Shakespeare would have been invested in—and writing about—the politics of his time through the distancing lenses of history and fiction, allowing him to speak openly from within a culture of censorship. This opens into a discussion of how Shakespeare’s familiar stories are still bitingly relevant in examining our own political systems and the actors within them.

Tyrant takes us through a variety of Shakespeare’s plays across topic and genre, from the embattled courts of the first Henriad to the sprawling heath of King Lear to Coriolanus’s Ancient Rome. In each locale, Greenblatt examines the rise of a tyrant, the enabling factors lighting their way to power and the inevitable consequences thereof. Though the focus is on Shakespeare’s storytelling, Greenblatt subtly lays out the parallels between Shakespeare’s tyrants and our own, so that one is never far from the notion that such tyrants could come to power in our time if we don’t learn the necessary lessons to prevent them from doing so.

The book feels academic yet digestible. Greenblatt pairs close readings of individual scenes with comprehensive synopses of the plays as a whole, making his work accessible regardless of your pre-existing familiarity with any of the works being discussed.

While it is a great choice for anyone interested in Shakespeare, history, or politics, I would argue that the best justification for a timely read of this book comes from its acknowledgements, in which Greenblatt indicates that his “growing apprehensions about the possible outcome of an upcoming election” inspired him to write the book, which he worked on for several years before its eventual publication in 2018 (Greenblatt p.192). As we follow the news now and so often feel that same apprehension, it is more important than ever to recognise the political patterns in history and literature. Doing so allows us to critically examine our place amid those seemingly never-ending cycles and potentially gives us the tools to break them.

Reviewed by Amanda Hart (Learning Coordinator)

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