Shakespeare in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

My research looks at how the influence and importance of Shakespeare has changed throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by reviewing the popularity of works and phrases. Many studies have focused specifically on performances of Shakespeare or influences of Shakespeare throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By looking at the “beauties” and commonplace books curated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the project considers what phrases were important and why they were significant in their time. While analyzing which values were emphasized in the “beauties” by looking at the “Commonplace headings,” this project explores how the literature, theater, and artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth century tapped into the same themes and shaped Shakespeare’s popularity and impression on society. By noting what authors and poets such as Jane Austen, Samuel Coleridge, John Keats, and others chose to imitate or incorporate from Shakespeare’s works, I was able to determine why these passages were chosen and how the changes affect the way that Shakespeare was read or used in that time. This enriches our current understanding of the drastic evolution of Shakespeare’s status and audience over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which continues to affect how we now read and analyze Shakespearean texts.