Shakespeare for Freedom by Ewan Fernie takes a look Shakespeare's works and how its interpretations of freedom are still relevant today and the manner in which they shaped and continue to shape such wide-ranging social constructs as theatre, civic culture, and politics, be it for good or bad. This was a great read, in-depth and thought-provoking. I ended up reading a bit, and stopping to ponder things, so it took me a lot longer than usual to read. The writing was engaging, academic yet mostly easy to follow. Readings of various Shakespeare texts are paired with analysis of literary criticisms from a variety of sources. If you have an interest in Shakespeare and his influence through the ages, be sure to check this book out!

***Many thanks to the Netgalley and Cambridge Press for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

In his book Shakespeare for Freedom, Ewan Fernie focuses on freedom as it appears in Shakespeare’s plays. Fernie’s assertion that “freedom emerges as a supreme Shakespearean value” wasn’t obvious to me at all, but his arguments are valid and a joy to read.Perhaps I enjoyed reading this so much because I allowed myself the freedom of reading so scholarly a work for the first time in years, but whatever the reason, I found this a must-read for lovers of Shakespeare.

Writing in academic prose that's not overly dense or too hard to digest, Fernie explains that both as an author and as a symbol, Shakespeare invites us to consider, broadly, existential freedom; the freedom to be different or of becoming; and the freedom to enter evil.  Pairing close readings of texts like Romeo and Juliet and Henry IV Part I with analysis of literary criticism from the likes of Hegel, Freud, and Adorno, among others, Fernie puts forward his case for that tripartite Shakespearean freedom inherent in the plays.  Further, he looks at how Shakespeare has inspired various political movements and figures fighting for liberty throughout history, from the days when actor David Garrick first politicized the Bard's legacy with the Shakespeare Jubilee in Stratford in 1769, and later by Hungarian revolutionary Lajos Kossuth in the eighteenth century, up to the late twentieth century, when Nelson Mandela read Shakespeare's works along with fellow political prisoners at Robben Island.  Fernie also includes an investigation of more sinister iterations of Shakespearean freedom, used as a justification by the likes of John Wilkes Booth, himself the son of a Shakespeare actor, for example.  Fernie concludes with an interesting discussion of several critical approaches to King Lear, and demonstrates Shakespeare's ultimate call to human understanding and autonomy even in the bleakest of circumstances or on the stormiest of heaths.

While I found the book revealed new layers of meaning to Shakespeare's work, and the real-world consequences that have unfolded in light of it, I think it may have benefited from some structural changes.  Chapters providing close readings of text came after explorations of the political ramifications of reading Shakespeare's work, and theory was interspersed throughout.  I wonder if it would have been a more fluid reading experience to begin with laying out close readings of the text, followed by a critical framework (or vice versa), and then a discussion of Shakespeare in the political realm.

Nevertheless, my experience with the text was largely positive.  In particular, I enjoyed the chapter concerning Romeo and Juliet.  This was the first Shakespeare play I ever saw and got me interested in his work, and Fernie sculpted an analysis that made me consider the play in new ways; especially how the tragedy presents more radical potentialities and characters than we sometimes allow.  Fernie's discussion of this play adds a new dimension to that age-old question of whether human agency or fate guides the characters in Romeo and Juliet, and also presents a vision of liberty latent in some of the side characters' dialogue.

All in all, I would recommend this book to those trying to see Shakespeare through new lenses, whether socio-political, historical, or critical.

Fernie makes the pitch that for 21st century appreciation of Shakespeare, the future lies in themes of freedom rather than power, and traces this theme through the 19th century relationship of Shakespeare and Louis Kossuth, Marx, James Fenimore Cooper and Tolstoy, into modern links to Mandela and (oddly) the 2012 Olympics. Fernie expects the reader to be extremely knowledgeable, and this is a whirlwind tour of associations--I'm not entirely convinced this is the revelation Fernie thinks it is, but it is interesting to adjust the kaleidoscope and look at the plays in a different way.

Shakespeare For Freedom is a book - yet another - proclaiming to say why Shakespeare matters, why his plays still matter today. In this case, the lens through which Shakespeare’s relevance is viewed is ‘freedom’, a concept which Fernie opens up to mean personal freedom and freedom of identity. Though the title sounds like a kind of political call, Fernie’s book looks at freedom as more of an affirmation of life than a political or societal concept. Different chapters look at historical examples of the connection between Shakespeare’s works and freedom, examine Romeo and Juliet in light of freedom, and construct critical and historical narratives about Shakespeare, freedom, and identity.

Fernie’s introduction makes the salient point that after numerous cultural celebrations of Shakespeare in the past five years - with the Olympic opening ceremony and different anniversaries - it is important to restate why he matters, particularly to non-academics. He positions the book as coming after Jonathan Bate’s The Genius of Shakespeare in this regard, though Fernie’s book has less of an approachable feel, with a chapter on Hegel’s writing and a general assumption that anyone reading is already sold on Shakespeare mattering a lot. Despite this, Fernie raises interesting points about freedom, including the distinction between freedom to be who you are and freedom to be different, which he then uses to interrogate Romeo and Juliet through the title characters and through Mercutio. His argument that Ganymede in As You Like It should be mourned as a ‘death’ that is a loss of freedom shows this focus on identity and opens up fascinating potential.

Most of the questions raised in Shakespeare For Freedom seem to be answered with ‘freedom’, it being the reason to read Shakespeare and the reason to continue doing Shakespearean criticism. Thankfully a later chapter provides an opposing point, highlighting examples including Lincoln’s assassination and Tolstoy’s attack on Shakespeare to show that freedom and Shakespeare are not always straightforward. This leads well into the concluding point that we should learn freedom from Shakespeare, not a simple kind of freedom but an ambiguous one.

Fernie emphasises politics and personal identity at different points, suggesting that this Shakespearean idea of freedom is varied and therefore easily adaptable to different situations, as his variety of examples show. Ultimately, these examples are not groundbreaking, but Shakespeare For Freedom provides a varied look at historical events and critical arguments that shape this concept of freedom. Ferne certainly makes the case for Shakespeare’s plays as inviting everyone to look at their own personal and political freedom, though it may feel like a naive concept at times.

Fernie engages in some sophisticated dialogues not so much with Shakespeare as with cultural uses and approrpiations of Shakespeare. His focus on 'freedom' is wide-ranging and open, a bit of a catch-all in some ways as it's both a term and value that is slippery to pin down and can mean many things to many people at many points in history. This does, though, allow Fernie to build arguments that range from readings of the somewhat odd uses of Caliban's words in the Olympics opening ceremony to the Robbins Island Shakespeare. Along the way, there are discussions inflected by cultural institutions such as Marx, Hegel, Freud and Adorno so this isn't a general or popular read.

The most productive section for me is Fernie's engaging re-reading of Ted Hughe's 'Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being', a work treated with some ridicule but which here is given back some prominence and relevance to contemporay concerns with gender and sexual violence.

So a somewhat mixed bag, and the chapters don't always necessarily hold together but Fernie is a stimulating critic concerned with thinking through why Shakespeare has meaning today.