{"product_id":"2026200015827-secondhand-measure-for-measure-as-royal-entertainment","title":"Measure For Measure: As Royal Entertainment","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat if Shakespeare's most enigmatic problem play was never meant for the public stage at all, but was instead a lavish gift crafted for a king? Josephine Waters Bennett's Measure for Measure as Royal Entertainment presents a compelling scholarly argument that Shakespeare wrote Measure for Measure specifically for performance before King James I, recontextualising the play's perplexing moral ambiguities, its preoccupation with clemency and governance, and its curious dramatic structure as deliberate, politically charged choices designed to flatter and engage a royal audience.\n\nBennett's meticulous analysis draws on historical records, Jacobean court culture, and close textual reading to illuminate how profoundly the circumstances of a royal command performance shaped one of Shakespeare's most debated works. Her argument challenges centuries of critical tradition and forces a fundamental reconsideration of the play's Duke Vincentio as a mirror held up to James I himself. Written with scholarly precision yet accessible authority, this study remains an essential and provocative intervention in Shakespeare studies — one that leaves the reader wondering just how many other works bear the hidden fingerprints of royal patronage.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49203265863899,"sku":"2026200015827-SECONDHAND","price":15.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/2f4c0e10-8834-4516-8981-880b0431ed47.png?v=1788146928","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200015827-secondhand-measure-for-measure-as-royal-entertainment","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}