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The Rational Shakespeare

Peter Ramus, Edward de Vere, and the Question of Authorship

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Provides close textual analysis of Shakespeare’s plays

  • Draws on biographical and critical sources to chart Peter Ramus’s theories

  • Illustrates new evidence for the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
  2. Ramus, Smith, Cecil, and Oxford

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. Peter Ramus and the Basis of Logic

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 3-17
    3. Thomas Smith, Edward de Vere, and William Cecil

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 19-33
    4. Ramus’s Method

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 55-78
    5. The Strengths and Weaknesses of Ramism

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 79-104
  3. The Rational Shakespeare

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-105
    2. Introduction: Ramism and Game Theory

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 107-113
    3. The Banker and His Player

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 115-132
    4. Oxford, Ramus, and Love’s Labour’s Lost

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 133-154
    5. Oxford, Ramus, and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 155-175
    6. Deadlock and the Prisoner’s Dilemma in King John

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 177-201
    7. Assurance Games in Antony and Cleopatra (Part 1)

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 203-225
    8. Assurance Games in Antony and Cleopatra (Part 2)

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 227-249
    9. Chicken in King Henry V (Part 1)

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 251-265
    10. Chicken in King Henry V (Part 2)

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 267-283
    11. Conclusion

      • Michael Wainwright
      Pages 285-291
  4. Back Matter

    Pages 293-324

About this book

The Rational Shakespeare: Peter Ramus, Edward de Vere, and the Question of Authorship examines William Shakespeare’s rationality from a Ramist perspective, linking that examination to the leading intellectuals of late humanism, and extending those links to the life of Edward de Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford.  The application to Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets of a game-theoretic hermeneutic, an interpretive approach that Ramism suggests but ultimately evades, strengthens these connections in further supporting the Oxfordian answer to the question of Shakespearean authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, United Kingdom

    Michael Wainwright

About the author

Michael Wainwright is Associate Lecturer of English and Honorary Research Associate at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. His previous monographs include Darwin and Faulkner’s Novels: Evolution and Southern Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), Toward a Sociobiological Hermeneutic (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), and Game Theory and Postwar American Literature (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Rational Shakespeare

  • Book Subtitle: Peter Ramus, Edward de Vere, and the Question of Authorship

  • Authors: Michael Wainwright

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95258-1

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Palgrave Macmillan, part of Springer Nature 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-95257-4Published: 31 August 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-07003-8Published: 29 December 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-95258-1Published: 22 August 2018

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXI, 324

  • Number of Illustrations: 4 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Literary History, Shakespeare, Logic

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access