Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics

Written by Stephen Greenblatt

Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

World-renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores the playwright's insight into bad (and often mad) rulers. As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In exploring the psyche (and psychoses) of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, Coriolanus, and the societies they rule over, Stephen Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the catastrophic consequences of its execution. Cherished institutions seem fragile, political classes are in disarray, economic misery fuels populist anger, people knowingly accept being lied to, partisan rancor dominates, spectacular indecency rules-these aspects of a society in crisis fascinated Shakespeare and shaped some of his most memorable plays. With uncanny insight, he shone a spotlight on the infantile psychology and unquenchable narcissistic appetites of demagogues-and the cynicism and opportunism of the various enablers and hangers-on who surround them-and imagined how they might be stopped. As Greenblatt shows, Shakespeare's work, in this as in so many other ways, remains vitally relevant today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781501997624

Stephen Greenblatt

Stephen Greenblatt is The Class of 1932 Professor of English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Two of his publications, Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England and Representing the English Renaissance (of which he is the editor) are available in paperback from California. His most recent book is Marvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World (1991).

Reviews for Tyrant

[datrappert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Depressed by the election of the tyrant Donald Trump, Greenblatt took out his frustrations by writing a book that, without mentioning Trump by name, finds his character (or lack of it) portrayed across Shakespeare's own tyrants, from the English history plays to Lear, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, and Macbeth. It makes for painful reading. In Shakespeare's plays, tyrants eventually get their comeuppance. It remains to be seen whether Trump will get his. Life, unfortunately, does not imitate art.

[bfsmith9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent. Agree with earlbot88 regarding the section on Cade. What struck me hard about this book is the way it made me realize once again how thoroughly modern Shakespeare seems at times. By modern, I don't mean in the conventional sense of the 20th-century artistic movement, but in the sense that he would understand contemporary politics, sans our tech, with tremendous insight. I'm shocked by how relevant Shakespeare is to all of us.

[mnicol_11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a brilliant comment on the 8 history plays, Richard II to Richard III, with all the Henries in between. I have always focused on the historical events – seeking motives in the complex genealogy of the characters, quibbling about the mis-placement of time and events by a playwright with a Queen-pleasing agenda – and I simply missed both politics and drama, which are the focus of Stephen Greenblatt’s revelatory analysis. It just amazing how you can read Shakespeare for 50 years and be struck by a completely new insight. There are such parallels with what has been going on in South Africa, with the capture of the state by criminals, and the perversion of our constitution. The Chapter on “Enablers” – profiles both the directly complicit and all of us “who fail to realize quickly enough that what seemed impossible is actually happening”.The argument is deepened with reference to tyrants and their characters in Macbeth, Coriolanus, King Lear, Julius Caesar and The Winter’s Tale.Shakespeare believed that tyrants and their minions will ultimately fail. Greenblatt says the best chance for the recovery of public decency lies in the political action of ordinary citizens. But today it is the cruelest motives of the basest people that seem to be triumphant.

[threadnsong · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a brilliant exploration of the works of Shakespeare as they relate to modern politics. Greenblatt pulls in Macbeth, Lear, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, and Richard III to explain not just that we've been here before (Shakespeare certainly had to write about tyrants very carefully) but also how these men came to power. One does not have to be an authority on Shakespeare to enjoy the focus of this book and follow his discussions to their conclusion. One thing I had not know was the rise of Richard III begins in Henry VI Part 3; of course that literary drama fits in with the history of the War of the Roses but having never studied any of the Henry VI plays that fact never occurred to me!Tyrants and despots come to power by desiring it first, then finding others who share their views to help them achieve their power. But they often mislead their followers by stating that they need to come to power to save the Republic or the Kingdom from an outside threat, not because they crave power for its own sake. They also come to power through elections (Richard III) that seem to involve the populace, or they come to power through assassination (Macbeth) of their predecessors. Greenblatt also pulls in the similarities in personal development that lead to their desire for power and to their personal fracturing once they are leading a kingdom.It's a fairly easy read and while I want to pull out my Riverside Shakespeare to get more insight into Richard III and read up on Henry VI, again, it's not essential to understanding the insights that Greenblatt sheds onto much of the modern Populist political climate.