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Of Philosophers and Kings: Political Philosophy in Shakespeare's Macbeth and King Lear. By LEON HAROLD CRAIG. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001. Pp. xii + 406. $70.00 cloth.
The publication of a book on Shakespeare by a scholar in another field should always be a welcome event, helping those of us within the field to see our subject with fresh eyes, A political scientist at the University of Alberta and the author of a previous study of Plato's Republic, Leon Harold Craig often has occasion to refer to Plato in his new study of political philosophy in Shakespeare,1 Holding that "Shakespeare was an assiduous student of... Plato's texts and problems,,., especially those having to do with the relation between philosophy and political power" (251), Craig argues that the ancient Greek philosopher and Elizabethan playwright shared a method, "Shakespeare was not only cognizant of the larger philosophical questions that his political stories raise, but... he crafted his dramas with the intention of showing how those questions arise out of, and bear upon, his stories. Thus the reader of Shakespeare's plays, as of Plato's dialogues, experiences philosophy arising naturally/ that is, out of the diligent pursuit of answers to the problems and questions and perplexities implicit in ordinary political life" (193).
Only one other political philosopher plays an important role in Craig's book: Machiavelli, who figures prominently in Craig's chapter on Macbeth, "Shakespeare's most philosophically ambitious play" (29) and one "designed to illustrate the political teachings we associate most readily with Machiavelli's The Prince" (31). When exploring "the political problems that arise because of... rulers' being insufficiently reflective" (194), Craig makes Plato his primary point of reference. The range of political thought discussed in the course of the book only seems narrow, since Craig's aim is to show that Shakespeare, far from merely digesting the political thought of others to serve as backdrop to his plays, was a major political thinker in his own right.