Shakespeare’s Storms

Winner of the 2016 Shakespeare’s Globe Book Award

The first comprehensive study of Shakespeare’s storms. Whether the apocalyptic storm of King Lear or the fleeting thunder imagery of Hamlet, or the thunderbolt of Pericles, there is an instance of storm in every one of Shakespeare’s plays. This book explains the storm effects used in early modern playhouses, and how they filter into Shakespeare’s dramatic language. With chapters on Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Pericles and The Tempest, Jones traces the development of the storm over the second half of the playwright’s career, when Shakespeare took the storm to new extremes. Interspersed are chapters on thunder, lightning, wind and rain, in which Jones reveals Shakespeare’s meteorological understanding and offers nuanced readings of his imagery. Throughout, Shakespeare’s Storms brings theatre history to bear on modern theories of literature and the environment. – .