Richard III: The New Oxford Shakespeare (Oxford World's Classics)

'Shine out, fair sun, till I have bought a glass,That I may see my shadow as I pass.'Richard III is Shakespeare's most charismatic protagonist-villain, exercising his wrongdoing with devilish glee and dazzling loquaciousness.He is also one of the most notorious examples in English literature of a damaging equation of disability with moral failing.The introduction to this edition provides a fresh take on this play's attractions and repulsions.Susan L. Anderson details how Shakespeare's telling of the final chapter in the Wars of the Roses has irrevocably shaped both the reputation of the historical figure of Richard III and the way disability is represented on stage and in fiction.The introduction draws on the recent burgeoning of work on early modern disability to demonstrate how the lens of disability can provide fresh and interesting readings of the play.While acknowledging the recent archaeological findings about the historical Richard III, Anderson carefully distinguishes the liter