Hamlet as Minister and Scourge and Other Studies in Shakespeare and Milton - Tapa dura

This collection makes available Fredson Bowers' Shakespearean studies of the 1960s and 1970s. The collection demonstrates that this textual scholar has made a significant contribution to aesthetic criticism as well. Despite their varied origin and occasion, the essays cohere. The first four treat from different points of view the general problems of Shakespeare's ethos and dramatic structure, chiefly considering tragedy but with some attention to comedy. In the following six pieces, the special areas of interest introduced in the earlier, more generalized survey receive specific application in a narrower focus on "Hamlet" and the major incidents of its plot. The next two essays, of special importance, examine the structure and themes of "King Lear" and "King Henry IV, Part I", and the concluding essay draws connections between Hamlet and Milton's Samson. Fredson Bowers holds honorary degrees from the University of Chicago, Brown and Clark universities, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. As well as editing numerous texts, including the "Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe" and "The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker", Bowers has published several books on textual and bibliographic criticism.