This subfield revolves around analyzing Shakespeare's works, including their composition history, textual variant, sources used and their cultural context.
Early Modern English Language: Understanding the language spoken and written during Shakespeare's time, including grammar, vocabulary, and syntax.
Elizabethan England: The historical and cultural background of Shakespeare's era, including social structures, religious beliefs, and political context.
Shakespeare's Life: A study of Shakespeare's life from his birth to his death, his family, education, works, and career in the theater.
Shakespeare's Plays: A detailed analysis of his plays, their themes, characters, structure, and language.
Shakespearean Theater: The theatrical conventions and performance practices of Shakespeare's time, including the stage, costumes, lighting, and audience behavior.
Textual Analysis: Examination of various editions and adaptations of Shakespeare's works, comparing different versions and evaluating editorial choices.
Source Studies: The origins and influences of Shakespeare's plays, including the sources of his plots, historical and literary allusions, and intertextuality.
Critical Theory: The various interpretive approaches to Shakespearean plays, including feminism, Marxism, postcolonialism, and psychoanalysis.
Iconography and Performance History: The reception and production history of Shakespeare's plays, including adaptations, translations, and stage productions.
Digital Humanities: The use of digital tools and methods for Shakespearean textual studies, including digital archives, text mining, and data visualization.
Quarto Studies: This involves studying the early printed editions of Shakespeare's plays that were printed in small format and sold individually as cheap books during the early 17th century.
Folio Studies: This involves studying the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, which was printed in a larger format known as folio in 1623.
Performance History and Reception Studies: This involves studying the records and reviews of Shakespearean performances throughout history and how they have been received by audiences.
Textual Criticism: This involves the analysis of the different versions of Shakespeare's plays and attempts to reconstruct the original text.
Bibliography and Book History: This involves studying the publication history, provenance, and transmission of Shakespearean texts from their original printings to their modern-day editions.
Codicology and Paleography: This involves the study of the physical properties of Shakespearean texts, including their manuscripts, paper, ink, and handwriting.
Authorship Studies: This involves the debate about the authorship of Shakespeare's works and investigating possible alternative authors.
Linguistic Analysis: This involves the study of the language used in Shakespearean texts and how it varies within and between plays.
Performance Texts: This involves creating modern performance editions of Shakespeare's plays, which may incorporate modernized language or staging directions.
Cultural and Interdisciplinary Studies: This involves studying the cultural, historical, and socio-political factors that influenced the creation and reception of Shakespeare's works, as well as their influence on other fields such as literature, art, and music.