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2 - Just War Theory and Shakespeare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2021

David Loewenstein
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Paul Stevens
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

This chapter focuses on just war theory as an approach to Shakespeare and war. It gives an overview of different theories of war and illustrates their significance in the Elizabethan historical context. This includes a discussion of the most important readings of Shakespeare as a realist or a pacifist and a subsequent analysis of Shakespeare’s use of just war theory. Drawing on a variety of examples, this chapter exemplifies what is considered a just cause, a right intention, or a legitimate authority in Shakespeare’s plays; the analysis shows who is presented as culpable or responsible and under which circumstances the relation between the cause and cost of a war must be considered out of balance. The author traces this line of argument along illustrative readings of 3 Henry VI, 2 Henry IV, Henry V, and Troilus and Cressida and suggests that just war theory may offer another perspective on Shakespeare and war.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Barker, Simon. War and Nation in the Theatre of Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Foakes, R. A. Shakespeare and Violence, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Goy-Blanquet, Dominique. Shakespeare’s Early History Plays: From Chronicle to Stage, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenblatt, Stephen. Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Grene, Nicholas. Shakespeare’s Serial History Plays, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Hattaway, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Leggatt, Alexander. Shakespeare’s Political Drama: The History Plays and the Roman Plays, London, Routledge, 1988.Google Scholar
Pugliatti, Paola. Shakespeare and the Just War Tradition, Farnham, Ashgate, 2010.Google Scholar
Rackin, Phyllis. Stages of History: Shakespeare’s English Chronicles, London, Routledge, 1990.Google Scholar
Walzer, Michael. Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations, 5th ed., New York, Basic Books, 2015.Google Scholar

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