'Here's fine revolution': Shakespeare's Philosophy of the Future

For over 30 years historicist criticism of one kind or another has been turning its retrospective gaze upon the plays to view them in the light of the culture that cradled them. At its worst, this approach has produced studies whose antiquarian aridity, however modishly disguised, has left most teachers and students of Shakespeare stultified rather than inspired, and lovers of his drama beyond the academy as indifferent as the theater companies that stage it. At its best, it must be acknowledged, its exponents have enriched people's understanding of Shakespeare and his world by plugging the plays back into neglected cultural contexts and exposing their complicity in, as well as their resistance to, social, sexual, and racial oppression in their time. Here, Ryan examines some of Shakespeare's plays, including Macbeth, 2 Henry IV, and Troilus and Cressida.