One of the most intense and painful of our human passions, shame is typically seen in contemporary culture as a disability or a disease to be cured. Shakespeare's ultimately positive portrayal of the emotion challenges this view. Drawing on philosophers and theorists of shame, "Shame in Shakespeare" analyses the shame and humiliation suffered by the tragic hero, providing not only a new approach to Shakespeare but a committed and provocative argument for reclaiming shame. The volume provides an account of previous traditions of shame and of the Renaissance context, rich manifestations of both masculine and feminine shame in Shakespeare, detailed readings of "Hamlet," "Othello" and "King Lear," an analysis of the limitations of Roman shame in "Antony and Cleopatra" and "Coriolanus" and a polemical discussion of the fortunes of shame in modern literature after Shakespeare.

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Shame Before Shakespeare; Chapter 3 Shame in the Renaissance; Chapter 4 Shame in Shakespeare; Chapter 5 Hamlet; Chapter 6 Othello; Chapter 7 King Lear; Chapter 8 Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus; Chapter 9 Conclusion;

Ewan Fernie is Lecturer in English at the Queen's University of Belfast.He is the author of several articles on Renaissance literature and culture.