ABSTRACT
This chapter explodes the myth that Shakespeare must have admired the Earl of Essex, since he was himself in love with Essex’s friend, Southampton—for neither of which positions there is persuasive evidence. Even had Shakespeare felt deep affection for Southampton, he logically would have felt horror at Essex’s ensnaring of the younger peer in the mortal hazards of war and inflammatory court polarization. The chapter then investigates, as has never been done, the differing, conjuncturally driven constructions of Essex at the play’s two most important moments in Elizabethan England: the original representation of the mid-nineties, and the later version in early 1601, when Essex’s followers commissioned the play’s revival—Essex being then enveloped by a plangent suite of fresh, circumstantial resonances. This two-stage reconstruction is critical, I submit, to a precise and credible conclusion as to Shakespearean intentionality and impact regarding Essex’s stature.
