Why brush up your Shakespeare and your theory?: an Angela Carter companion to myths

Abstract

This dissertation aims at studying what came to be known as the Shakespeare myth and its relation to the contemporary literary production, exemplified by English novelist Angela Carter s novel Wise Children. Such objective intends to be achieved by a theoretical revision of elements related to French philosopher Rolan Barthes s concept of myth, such as the traditional concept of myth, Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Marxist ideological critique, as well as Cultural Studies. A study of the historical processes which led to and helped propagate the Shakespeare myth is also carried out in this dissertation: the pre-Romantic and the Romantic appropriation of the figure and works of William Shakespeare; the association of the figure of Shakespeare with the British Empire s national identity; the advent of the Shakespeare industry; and the role the adaptation of the Shakespearean play had in the propagation of the Shakespeare myth