David Bevington 
Shakespeare’s Ideas 
More Things in Heaven and Earth

An in-depth exploration, through his plays and poems, of the
philosophy of Shakespeare as a great poet, a great dramatist and a
‘great mind’.

* Written by a leading Shakespearean scholar

* Discusses an array of topics, including sex and gender,
politics and political theory, writing and acting, religious
controversy and issues of faith, skepticism and misanthropy, and
closure

* Explores Shakespeare as a great poet, a great dramatist and a
‘great mind’

Table of Content

Acknowledgements ix

1 A Natural Philosopher 1

2 Lust in Action

Shakespeare’s Ideas on Sex and Gender 15

3 What is Honour?

Shakespeare’s Ideas on Politics and Political Theory 42

4 Hold the Mirror Up to Nature

Shakespeare’s Ideas on Writing and Acting 74

5 What Form of Prayer Can Serve My Turn?

Shakespeare’s Ideas on Religious Controversy and Issues
of Faith 106

6 Is Man No More Than This?

Shakespeare’s Ideas on Scepticism, Doubt, Stoicism, Pessimism,
Misanthropy 143

7 Here Our Play Has Ending

Ideas of Closure in the Late Plays 177

8 Credo 213

Further Reading 218

Index 227

About the author

David Bevington is the Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor the Humanities at the University of Chicago. His numerous publications include The Bantam Shakespeare, in 29 paperback volumes (1988, new edition forthcoming), and The Complete Works of Shakespeare (fifth edition, 2003), as well as the Oxford Shakespeare edition of Henry IV Part I (1987), the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition of Antony and Cleopatra (second edition, 2005), and the Arden Shakespeare edition of Troilus and Cressida (1998). He is the senior editor of the Revels Student Editions, and is a senior editor of the Revels Plays and of the forthcoming Cambridge edition of the works of Ben Jonson. He is also general editor of English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology (2002), and the author of Shakespeare: The Seven Ages of Human Experience (second edition, Blackwell, 2005).