Table Of ContentSHAKESPEARE AND VIRTUE
This volume maps Shakespearean virtue in all its plasticity and
variety, providing thirty-eight succinct, wide-ranging chapters that
reveal a breadth and diversity exceeding any given morality or code of
behavior. Clearly explaining key concepts in the history of ethics and
in classical, theological, and global virtue traditions, the collection
reveals their presence in the works of Shakespeare in interpersonal,
civic, and ecological scenes of action. Paying close attention to indi-
vidual identity and social environment, the chapters also consider
how the virtuous horizons broached in Shakespearean drama have
been tested anew by the plays’ global travels and fresh encounters
with different traditions. Including sections on global wisdom, per-
formance, and pedagogy, this handbook affirms virtue as a resource
for humanistic education and the building of human capacity.
Julia Reinhard Lupton is Distinguished Professor of English
at the University of California (UC), Irvine. She is the author or co-
author of five books on Shakespeare, including Shakespeare Dwelling:
Designs for the Theater of Life (2018), Thinking with Shakespeare: Essays
on Politics and Life (2013), and Citizen-Saints: Shakespeare and Political
Theology (2006). She is the co-director of the New Swan Shakespeare
Center at UC, Irvine.
Donovan Sherman is Associate Professor of English at Seton Hall
University, South Orange, New Jersey. His most recent book is The
Philosopher’s Toothache: Embodied Stoicism in Early Modern English
Drama (2021). He is also the author of Second Death: Theatricalities of
the Soul in Shakespeare’s Drama (2016) and co-author of the last two
editions of the textbook Theatre Brief (2020 and 2023).
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Published online by Cambridge University Press
SH AK ESPEAR E AND V IRTUE
A Handbook
edited by
JULIA REINHARD LUPTON
University of California, Irvine
DONOVAN SHERMAN
Seton Hall University
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108843409
doi: 10.1017/9781108918589
© Cambridge University Press 2023
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2023
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lupton, Julia Reinhard, 1963– editor. | Sherman, Donovan, editor.
Title: Shakespeare and virtue / edited by Julia Reinhard Lupton, University of California,
Irvine; Donovan Sherman, Seton Hall University, New Jersey.
Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University
Press, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022022786 | ISBN 9781108843409 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781108918589 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616 – Ethics. | Shakespeare,
William, 1564–1616 – Philosophy. | Virtue in literature. | Virtues in literature | Shakespeare,
William, 1564–1616 – Characters. | Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616 – Dramatic production. |
BISAC: LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
LCGFT: Literary criticism. | Essays.
Classification: LCC PR3007 .S395 2023 | DDC 822.3/3–dc23/eng/20220712
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022022786
isbn 978-1-108-84340-9 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
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Contents
List of Contributors page ix
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
Julia Reinhard Lupton and Donovan Sherman
Part I: Shakespeare and Virtue Ethics
1 Aretē (Excellence, Virtue) 21
Jeffrey S. Doty and Daniel Bloom
2 Dynamis (Dynamism, Capacity) and Energeia (Actuality) 28
Christopher Crosbie
3 Technē (Technical Expertise, Skill) 36
Jeffrey Gore
4 Eudaimonia (Happiness) 44
Katarzyna Lecky
5 Ethos 53
Joseph Turner
6 Hexis (Habit) 61
Kate Narveson
7 Stoicism 69
Donovan Sherman
8 Skepticism 81
James Kuzner
9 Askesis and Asceticism 88
Jennifer R. Rust
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vi Contents
10 Shakespeare’s Moral Compass 98
Neema Parvini
Part II: Shakespeare’s Virtues
11 The Four Cardinal Virtues: Caesar’s Mantle
and Practical Wisdom 113
Kevin Curran
12 The Three Theological Virtues 125
Sarah Beckwith
13 Prudence: The Wisdom of “Hazarding All” in
The Merchant of Venice 137
Kelly Lehtonen
14 Friendship 145
Sean Keilen
15 Patience 155
Nick Moschovakis
16 Care 164
Benjamin Parris
17 Hospitality 172
Joan Pong Linton
18 Respect 180
Sanford Budick
19 Chastity 188
Jennifer Flaherty
20 Wit 197
Indira Ghose
21 Service 204
Joseph Sterrett
22 Humility 212
Richard Wilson
23 Kindness 221
Paul Yachnin
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Contents vii
24 Stewardship and Resilience: The Environmental Virtues 230
Jessica Rosenberg
25 Cognitive Virtue and Global Ecosociability 244
Donald Wehrs
26 Trust: Don’t Ever Change 257
David Carroll Simon
27 Being “Free” as a Virtue 265
Richard Strier
Part III: Shakespeare and Global Virtue
Traditions
28 Shakespeare’s Rabbinic Virtues: A Listening Ear 279
Stephanie Shirilan
29 Islamic Virtues: Ethics in the Premodern Ottoman Empire 291
Yasin Basaran
30 Persian Virtues: Hospitality, Tolerance, and Peacebuilding
in the Age of Shakespeare 300
Sheiba Kian Kaufman
31 Buddhist Virtues: Equanimity, Mindfulness,
and Compassion in Hamlet 306
Unhae Park Langis
32 The Virtues in Black Theology 317
Vincent Lloyd
33 Virtue on Robben Island 325
David Schalkwyk
34 Globability: The Virtue of Worlding 334
Jane Hwang Degenhardt
Part IV: Virtuous Performances
35 Dramaturgy: The Virtue/Virtuosity of Unfolding
Hamlet’s Story 349
Freddie Rokem
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viii Contents
36 Performing Chastity: The Marina Project 360
Katharine A. Craik and Ewan Fernie
37 Villains in Prison, Villains on Stage:
Is Shakespeare Really Salvific? 369
Mariacristina Cavecchi
38 Teaching Shakespeare and Moral Agency 378
Michael Bristol
Works Cited 390
Index 409
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Contributors
Yasin Basaran is Assistant Professor of Philosophical and Religious
Sciences at Marmara University.
Sarah Beckwith is Katherine Everett Gilbert Professor of English at
Duke University.
Daniel Bloom is Associate Professor of Philosophy at West Texas
A&M University.
Michael Bristol is Greenshields Professor Emeritus at McGill
University.
Sanford Budick is Professor Emeritus at Hebrew University.
Mariacristina Cavecchi is Associate Professor of English Literature
at the University of Milan.
Katharine A. Craik is Research Lead and Professor in Early Modern
Literature at Oxford Brookes University.
Christopher Crosbie is Associate Professor of English at North
Carolina State University.
Kevin Curran is Professor of English Literature at the University of
Lausanne.
Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor of English at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst.
Jeffrey S. Doty is Associate Professor at the University of North Texas.
Ewan Fernie is Chair of Shakespeare Studies and Fellow at the
Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham.
Jennifer Flaherty is Professor of English at Georgia College.
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