The Genealogy of the Gun: Shakespeare and the Politics of Premodernity
Mentor 1
Mark Netzloff
Start Date
16-4-2021 12:00 AM
Description
In William Shakespeare's series of history plays, anxieties experienced in guerilla warfare abroad are embodied by the bombastic and violent character Ancient Pistol and his conscription in an English militia. References to his explosive behavior, instability, and overt phallic sexuality correlate with the object of the gun and the cultural status it promotes in a premodern society. Although the composition of the plays Henry IV and Henry V occur over a century after colonization battles in France and Ireland, stories of English nationalism resonate with audiences in the 1600s who experienced victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the growing success of English rule in Ireland during the Nine Years' War of 1595-1603. The etymology used to describe emerging firearms technology represents the precarious naming of what is lawful within structures of politics, class, and religion. Interdisciplinary research on the emergence of gunpowder and firearms in premodern England and military exploits abroad is central to this research. Primary materials prior to 1800 are electronically sourced through Early English Books Online (EEBO). MLA Bibliography and The Oxford English Dictionary are also essential to trace the origins of the handgun in the English language. The inception of the pistol in premodern society births power and individual agency that forever alters global world-systems and the modern nation-state of America. Applications of this study include the US Constitution's Second Amendment order to maintain a "well-regulated militia" and how this message is ultimately complicated by the agents who wield power and the nature that the gun has to transform social relations.
The Genealogy of the Gun: Shakespeare and the Politics of Premodernity
In William Shakespeare's series of history plays, anxieties experienced in guerilla warfare abroad are embodied by the bombastic and violent character Ancient Pistol and his conscription in an English militia. References to his explosive behavior, instability, and overt phallic sexuality correlate with the object of the gun and the cultural status it promotes in a premodern society. Although the composition of the plays Henry IV and Henry V occur over a century after colonization battles in France and Ireland, stories of English nationalism resonate with audiences in the 1600s who experienced victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the growing success of English rule in Ireland during the Nine Years' War of 1595-1603. The etymology used to describe emerging firearms technology represents the precarious naming of what is lawful within structures of politics, class, and religion. Interdisciplinary research on the emergence of gunpowder and firearms in premodern England and military exploits abroad is central to this research. Primary materials prior to 1800 are electronically sourced through Early English Books Online (EEBO). MLA Bibliography and The Oxford English Dictionary are also essential to trace the origins of the handgun in the English language. The inception of the pistol in premodern society births power and individual agency that forever alters global world-systems and the modern nation-state of America. Applications of this study include the US Constitution's Second Amendment order to maintain a "well-regulated militia" and how this message is ultimately complicated by the agents who wield power and the nature that the gun has to transform social relations.
