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Shakespeare & Beyond

The origins of the English history play - Excerpt: The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and WarWhat is the English history play? “A dramatic study of civil conflict in England,” writes David Bevington in this excerpt from the newly published Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War. “Above all, its purpose is to explore the causes, the struggles, the personal motivations of the major participants, and the means by which civil conflict is intermittently brought under control.”