SHAKESPEARE is my Homeboy

A. The Journal:

Renaissance Quarterly is published by the Renaissance Society of America, based in New York City. According to its website, Renaissance Quarterly "publishes interdisciplinary articles (twelve to sixteen a year) and reviews (about thirty to thirty-five an issue) which cover the most important recent scholarly developments in Renaissance studies. The journal's articles and reviews are written by authorities in the respective disciplines of history, literature, art, philosophy, music and other areas of study." The journal is published quarterly. For the volume I chose, there was not a special topic. I believe that the journal tries to publish materials from a variety of critical perspectives, on a wide variety of topics related to the Renaissance.

B. Introduction

In the introduction, Ms. Terry sets out to explore the historical development and changes in the meaning of the word "honor" and the concept of "promise" during the Renaissance. Terry also intends to argue how the action within Hamlet seems to provide "new and revealing insights into the evolving Renaissance codes of honor." In her introduction, Terry explains her approach as historical. She will examine the changing definitions of "honor" of "promise" from a historical perspective, and show how Hamlet's actions fit within the evolving definition of the code of honor.

C. Expectations

I expected this article to be a historical analysis of "honor" and "promise", and Terry's article proved very thorough in her historical analysis. She introduces medieval and Elizabethan concepts of both "honor" and "promise" and then goes out applying these concepts to her analysis of Hamlet. She uses historical writings from the period to show how the concept of honor had changed over time. She then sets about to show how these some of these changes are evident throughout Shakespeare's Hamlet. Terry structures her arguments very clearly, by citing the changes in the historical definitions and codes of "honor" first, and then applying these codes to many examples within the play.