Shakespeare's Pictures : Visual Objects in the Drama

Shakespeare's Pictures is the first full-length study of visual objects in Shakespearean drama. In several plays (Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night, among others) pictures are brought on stage - in the form of portraits or other images - as part of the dramatic action. Shakespeare's characters show, exchange and describe them. The pictures arouse in their beholders strong feelings, of desire, nostalgia or contempt, and sometimes even taking the place of the people they depict.


The pictures presented in Shakespeare's work are part of the language of the drama, and they have a significant impact on theatrical performance, from Shakespeare's time to our own. Keir Elam pays close attention to the iconographic and literary contexts of Shakespeare's pictures while also exploring their role in performance history. Highly illustrated with 46 images, this volume examines the conflicted cooperation between the visual and the verbal.

“Highly nuanced in its close readings of key moments ... Equally adept in his use of historical sources and his deployment of modern theories of 'performativity', Elam is a stylish guide through the Shakespearean picture gallery.” —Times Literary Supplement

“[Elam's] book offers a number of interesting readings, an astute account of relevant artistic and literary developments, together with a lively sense of early modern history.” —The Review of English Studies