Abstract

Shakespeare Without Womenis a controversial study of female impersonation, and the connections between dramatic and political representation in Shakespeare's plays. In this exhilarating and challenging book, Callaghan focuses on the implications of absence and exclusion in several of Shakespeare's works: *the exclusion of the female body fromTwelfth Night *the impersonation of the female voice in the original performances of the plays *racial impersonation inOthello *echoes of the removal of the Gaelic Irish inTheTempest *the absence of women on stage and in public life as shown inA Midsummer Night's Dream.