ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows that the meaning of Shakespeare—and even the presumption that meaning is the point of Shakespeare—is hardly more stable in the Romantic period than at any other time. It argues that the contents in the Gallery were remarkably in flux over its fifteen-year period, and that changes and additions to the Gallery stemmed from a changing public market for Shakespeare. The book suggests that Lady Caroline Lamb’s Glenarvon, a Gothic novel that portrays Lamb’s disastrous relationship with Lord Byron, draws extensively on John Ford works in order to criticize the selfishness of Whig aristocracy and to advocate for political reform. It also argues that Coleridge’s Zapolya, a play deeply indebted to Shakespeare’s later works, represents an attempt to reform the Romantic theater and make it a suitable vehicle for moral and political education.
