The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606

While often cited for their eternal qualities, William Shakespeare's plays were very much rooted in a specific time and place. Following his successful A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599, Shapiro (Larry Miller Professor of English, Columbia Univ.; Contested Will) looks at the momentous year of 1606, during which Shakespeare wrote three of his great tragedies: King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. As with any full-length biographical work on Shakespeare there is a good amount of conjecture, but Shapiro builds on the few established facts of the playwright's life (1564–1616) by taking a broader look at the political and social factors that influenced his work. There was a lot going on in 1606: the proposed union of Scotland and England under King James; the aftermath of the infamous Gunpowder Plot that nearly wiped out the Royal Court and Parliament in a single blow; and the continued persecution of English Catholics. Shapiro effectively shows how the beliefs, fears, and politics of Shakespeare's day were reflected in his plays.