Tyrant

Shakespeare on Politics

By: Stephen Greenblatt

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

World-renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores the playwright's insight into bad (and often mad) rulers.

As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In exploring the psyche (and psychoses) of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, Coriolanus, and the societies they rule over, Stephen Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the catastrophic consequences of its execution.

Cherished institutions seem fragile, political classes are in disarray, economic misery fuels populist anger, people knowingly accept being lied to, partisan rancor dominates, spectacular indecency rules - these aspects of a society in crisis fascinated Shakespeare and shaped some of his most memorable plays. With uncanny insight, he shone a spotlight on the infantile psychology and unquenchable narcissistic appetites of demagogues - and the cynicism and opportunism of the various enablers and hangers-on who surround them - and imagined how they might be stopped. As Greenblatt shows, Shakespeare's work, in this as in so many other ways, remains vitally relevant today.

©2018 Stephen Greenblatt (P)2018 Recorded Books

Worthwhile read.

Outstanding, interesting, and shows just how relevant Shakespeare still is and always will be. Take the time to read this one if you like both Shakespeare and the study of human behavior.

Timely essay on Shakespeare's tyrants

Greenblatt's scholarly elucidation of Shakespeare's tyrants implicitly comment on the spectacle of Trump. Masterful and thoroughly enjoyable.

Necessary reading for our troubled times

Brilliantly written, Greenblatt ties Shakespeare’s tyrants and their storylines to today’s current American political quagmire.

Brilliant book read brilliantly

Greenblatt has achieved a marvelous synthesis of the plays as commentary on our current political condition. Without naming any of the present offenders of our political order, he powerfully condemns them, while illuminating the deeper meaning of the plays. The audio presentation is equal to the brilliant text
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Ballerini!

Greenblatt is fascinating as always with his depth. Having Ballerini read it is icing on the cake.

Too Close for Comfort

What an enjoyable listen. As the author reviewed the atrocities and calamities embodied in the Shakespearean tyrants and systems of oppression, I felt somewhat cheered up about our current political mess, and readied myself for it to get worse before it gets better. It just goes to show - the more things change, the more they stay the same. My only real regret is my near-certainty that the people who would most benefit from this wouldn’t dream of reading it or listening to it.

Required reading ina time of tyrants

This book is a gem and should be required reading for every citizen! Not only are the plays explained but the concepts of power and the personalities that abuse it are crystal clear This. A great book!

What is the city but the people

"What is the city but the people"
- Coriolanus: Act 3 Scene 1

"Tyrants are enemies of the future."
- Stephen Greenblatt, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics

Stephen Greenblatt, like Harold Bloom, is a man steeped in Shakespeare. So, it is obvious that Greenblatt would be a wise choice to turn to to see if Shakespeare can give us any information (via Shakespeare) on the behavior, motives, and reason for tyrants. And he does, well. He examines such plays as Henry VI (all three), Richard II, Richard III, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Coriolanus to better understand, via Shakespeare, Tyrants.

The subtitle is a bit oblique. He isn't looking at politics. Greenblatt is looking squarely at Trump and the demagogues across the pond. The parallels he finds and the examples he gives square too close to our modern political realities. He looks at questions like: "Why do large number of people knowingly accept being lied to? How does a figure like Richard III or Macbeth ascend to the throne." He also asks fundamentally important questions like: "Why would anyone...be drawn to a leader manifestly unsuited to govern, someone dangerously impulsive or viciously conniving or indifferent to truth? Why in some circumstances, does evidence of mendacity, crudeness, or cruelty serve not as a fatal disadvantage but as an allure, attracting ardent followers? Why do otherwise proud and self-respecting people submit to the sheer effrontery of the tyrant, his sense that he can get away with saying and doing anything he likes, his spectacular indecency?" It sounds like Greenblatt had a model tyrant in mind as he wrote this book.

That said, it isn't Greenblatt's most inventive or insightful book. IT is timely, and I guess that is the reason for it. Interesting, timely, not his greatest.

Shakespeare is always pertinent for our time

Shakespeare is always pertinent for our time, and in TYRANT, Stephen Greenblatt presents the relevance of the bard’s plays to the brutality of the making and sustaining of a tyrant and narcissistic politicians—qualities that have not changed. This is a literary and political book, confidently written, clearly thought out, and brilliantly original. Ballerini’s performance is resonant and well suited to acting the particular parts of the referenced plays. He accomplished every aspect well. This is an exceptional Audible recording.

A Timely Civics Lesson from 400 Years Ago

Shakespeare's depictions and analyses of the pursuit and exercise of absolute political power by psychologically damaged or unstable characters are combined in a meaningful and convincing way in this latest book by an authoritative Shakespeare scholar. The characters act out their warped inner fantasies and delusions in characteristic thuggish, capricious, and sometimes clownish ways. A recurring feature in the plays are the number and type of the characters who aid an abet the mad pursuit and exercise of uncontrolled political power. The panoply of Shakespeare's plays dealing with the subject are here: King Henry VI, Richard III, Macbeth, King Lear, The Winter's Tale, Coriolanus, and Julius Caesar. Jack Cade's demagogic pursuit of power in Henry VI and the class manipulation in Coriolanus are barely distinguishable from politics in the here and now. The book has the added virtue of well documented quotes to the plays to make its points. It is worthwhile to buy the book to read and also listen to the audiobook in my opinion.