Conclusion

Abstract

AbstractThe conclusion reviews Lewis and Maslin’s claim that the Anthropocene commenced in 1610, and considers whether the developments in cultural and environmental history documented in this book make this something more than a coincidence. It argues that Jacobean absolutism’s polarizing rhetoric gave rise to corresponding notion of the sovereignty of the people in the early Anthropocene, but that Shakespearean drama is highly sceptical of both royal absolutism and the cosmic narcissism of mere mortals. Shakespeare’s clinical dissection of the ideological trifecta of god/king/man makes his late plays a valuable resource for exposing humanity’s eco-hubris as ecological tyranny. The book concludes by encouraging readers to find ways to teach and perform Shakespearean tragedies as ritual abdications of species tyranny and his tragicomedies as fables of resilience and radical hope.