Shakespeare's Rome

the long version

This book studies Shakespeare's changing vision of Rome, its people, and its ideals, in the six works where the city serves as a setting. The author examines the symbolic and topographical features that help define the city: the walls that divide civilization and wilderness; the battlefields, which become the testing ground for people and ideas; the Capitol, center of the city and seat of its reason and authority. He examines the Roman code of military honor and the increasing scrutiny to which this code is subjected by the playwright. He also analyzes Shakespeare's developing interest in the Roman family and his growing awareness of the paradoxes of peitas- the conflicting loyalties that make responsible action in the family and state impossible. -- from Book Jacket.