literary studies z SShhaakkeeppeeaarree,, e ativity—a midlife shift from advancing one’s n own career to aiding a younger generation— “This is the kind of intelligent and perceptive book only a wise, d MMiiddlliiffee,, aanndd Zender explores the difficulties Shakespeare’s experienced, and insightful scholar/teacher can write late in a e r GGeenneerraattiivviittyy characters face as they transfer power and career. Karl Zender’s emphasis on ‘generativity’ allows him to authority to their children and others in the offer surprisingly fresh readings of a number of Shakespeare’s next generation. Paying careful attention to plays that are themselves the product of a thoughtful dramatist’s karl f. zender S the plays’ moral and ethical implications, he personal and professional maturity. The psychological observa- h demonstrates how Shakespeare’s innovative tions Zender makes about these dramas extend into the world of a The life expectancy in Shakespearean times depiction of the midlife experience focuses on their time as well as to our own postmodern situation.” k averaged only about twenty-five to thirty-five internal psychological understanding rather e Shakepeare, years, but those who survived the illnesses of — Arthur Marotti, author of Religious Ideology and p than external actions such as ceremony and infancy and childhood could look forward to Cultural Fantasy: Catholic and Anti-Catholic Discourses ritual. e a long life with nearly the same level of con- in Early Modern England a Illuminating and engaging, Shakespeare, r fidence as someone living now. But even so Midlife, and Generativity offers a fresh analy- e long ago, some faced conflicts in their middle , Midlife, and sis of several of Shakespeare’s most important “Through a characterological approach to drama (which seems M and later years that remain familiar today. In plays and explores a profound, centuries- to be returning to favor), and a psychologically verisimilar ap- Shakespeare, Midlife, and Generativity, Karl F. i old perspective on the challenges inherent in proach to character (driven by a carefully hedged Eriksonian- d Zender explores William Shakespeare’s de- middle age. ism), Shakespeare, Midlife, and Generativity illuminates Shake- l pictions of middle age by examining the re- i speare’s lessons about aging without reducing the plays to those f lationships between middle-aged parents— e Generativity karl f. zender is a professor of English lessons. The observations about doctors and confessors are com- , mainly fathers—and their children in five of at the University of California at Davis. He pelling, and the diagnosis of Macbeth as a creature disastrously a his greatest plays. He finds that the middle- n is author of The Crossing of the Ways: William obsessed with a perfected future—as if that were immortality aged characters in King Lear, Macbeth, Antony d Faulkner, the South, and the Modern World and rather than its opposite—is important and convincing. The argu- and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tem- G Faulkner and the Politics of Reading. ment that performativity replaces soliloquy in Antony and Cleo- pest—much like their modern counterparts— e patra produces one of the best discussions of that play I have yet experience a fear of aging and debility. n encountered. . . . Through it all, Karl Zender’s personal voice in- Representations of middle age occur through- e tervenes in measured ways—effectively, modestly, refreshingly, r out the Shakespearean canon, in forms rang- a and sometimes quite movingly.” ing from Jaques’ “seven ages” speech in As You t i — Robert Watson, author of Shakespeare and the H azards v Like It to the emphasis— almost an obsession— i in many plays on relations between the genera- of Ambition t y tions. Lear, Zender shows, tries to forestall the approach of old age with a fantasy of literal re- LLoouuiissiiaannaa SSttaattee UUnniivveerrssiittyy PPrreessss Press Louisiana State University Press birth in his relationship with Cordelia. Macbeth y BBaattoonn RRoouuggee 7700880088 versit Baton Rouge 70808 depicts an even more urgent struggle against wwwwww..llssuu..eedduu//llssuupprreessss ni midlife decline, while in Antony and Cleopatra, U State karl f. zender Shakespeare portrays two characters in midlife jacket designpr biyn tleadu rian ruo.su.bai.que gleason ouisiana IìS<B(Ns 9k7)8k-0(-=8b0d71d-f3f35c5< -2+ ^ -Ä - U -Ä-U> cmreismiso wrihaol iaztitnemg tphte tior rfeodremfienre s tthaetuirs i adnendt pitoiews ebry, L 8 00 now lost. © 2 Drawing on Erik Erikson’s theory of gener- Shakespeare, Midlife, and Generativity Shakespeare, Midlife, and Generativity Karl F. Zender louisiana State University Press Baton rouge Published by louisiana State University Press Copyright © 2008 by louisiana State University Press all rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of america First printing designer: laura roubique Gleason Typeface: Tribute Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc. library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data Zender, Karl F., 1937– Shakespeare, midlife, and generativity / Karl F. Zender. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBn 978-0-8071-3355-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Shake- speare, William, 1564–1616—Criticism and interpreta- tion. I. Title. Pr2965.Z46 2008 822.3'3—dc22 2008004136 The paper in this book meets the guidelines for perma- nence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book longevity of the Council on library resources. ∞ To My Students This form, this face, this life living to live in a world of time beyond me; let me resign my life for this life, my speech for that unspoken. — T. S. Eliot, “Marina” nobody remembers Shakespeare’s children. — William Faulkner to his daughter Contents acknowledgments xi Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. lear’s age 15 Chapter 3. The river of Blood 38 Chapter 4. Cleopatra’s Children 59 Chapter 5. Hermione’s Wrinkles 87 epilogue: Prospero’s anger 115 notes 123 Bibliography 151 Index 165