Great halls and hovels, dove-houses and sheepcotes, mountain cells and
seaside shelters--these are some of the spaces in which Shakespearean
characters gather to dwell, and to test their connections with one
another and their worlds. Julia Reinhard Lupton enters Shakespeare's
dwelling places in search of insights into the most fundamental human
problems.
Focusing on five works (Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Pericles,
Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale), Lupton remakes the concept of
dwelling by drawing on a variety of sources, including modern design
theory, Renaissance treatises on husbandry and housekeeping, and the
philosophies of Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. The resulting
synthesis not only offers a new entry point into the contemporary study
of environments; it also shows how Shakespeare's works help us continue
to make sense of our primal creaturely need for shelter.