Masculinity and Marian Efficacy in Shakespeare's England

Masculinity and Marian Efficacy in Shakespeare's England offers a new approach to evaluating the psychological "loss" of the Virgin Mary in post-Reformation England. The author surveys the early modern cultural and literary response to Mary's marginalization; he argues that Shakespeare employs both Roman Catholic and post-Reformation views of Marian strength not only to scrutinize cultural perceptions of masculinity, but also to offer his audience new avenues of exploring both religious and gendered subjectivity.