Shakespeare and the Rose of Love

Overview

Offering an unusual and exceptionally clear insight into Shakespeare’s philosophy and a viewpoint seldom considered, this book argues that his philosophy was consistent, consciously held, and profoundly Christian. Showing that Shakespeare appreciated the danger faced in writing at a time of major religious intolerance, it explains how the playwright used the medieval allegory of love to veil his ideas. Fresh and fascinating, this record also demonstrates that, even in his earliest work, Shakespeare was moving toward the universal ideas of love, forgiveness, and regeneration. Love's Labour Lost, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Romeo and Juliet are discussed at length.

Reviews

"More perceptive and convincing than a great deal that has ever been written on the subject . . . close and attentive scholarship . . . shrewd and ingenious observations."  —A.L. Rowse, Daily Telegraph

"Original and stimulating . . . Mr. Vyvyan's thesis is important and serious: serious in the sense that his reading of the plays and his supporting reading into Shakespeare's climate of ideas is deep connected and wide."  —Times Literary Supplement

"The extraordinary worldwide popularity of Shakespeare today invites one to look more deeply for the magic ingredients. Shakespeare's gift of presenting timeless wisdom in captivating allegorical dramas has been explained with great clarity in three books by John Vyvyan. In 'Shakespeare and the Rose of Love' the long Medieval history of courtly love, the poetry of the troubadours, which permeated European thinking for several hundred years, are shown to be a major influence on Shakespeare. Vyvyan had an unusual talent for recognizing consistent patterns in the plays, of seeing what is hidden - like the allegory. He tells us that Shakespeare used it frequently 'in order that we may see the inner drama of his heroes' souls'." —Watkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine

"John Vyvyan's books on the spiritual philosophy of Shakespeare aroused interest when they were first published in the early sixties . . . all who seek the true wisdom of Shakespeare will welcome this first republication of his trilogy for fifty years . . .  [Vyvyan's] scholarship and dogged research in opening the doors of the Christian-Platonic philosophy of the Renaissance and uncovering the vastness of Shakespeare's spiritual universe pronounce him an intrepid pioneer in Shakespearean scholarship, whose work should now receive wider recognition." —Jill Line, Temenos Academy Review

Author Biography

John Vyvyan, a British Shakespearen scholar, was offered a visiting lectureship at the State University of New York. He is the author of Shakespeare and Platonic Beauty and The Shakespearean Ethic.