The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall by Eliot A. Cohen
An IR scholar & practitioner examines Shakespeare
This spring, as the in the preceding spring, I had the good fortune to take a Zoom class on a Shakespeare play from a program at my alma mater (The University of Iowa/Go Hawks!). The classes were taught by Professor Emerita Miriam Gilbert, who’s so emerita that she was teaching there even when I was an undergrad! (But I took a Shakespeare class from one of her colleagues.) The plays that we read and discussed were of particular interest to me because both dealt with politics: Henry V and Julius Caesar. Although Shakespeare’s range of interests and characters is immense, he wrote many plays that address issues of politics and political figures, from the mob to kings. And so it’s no surprise that students of politics would find Shakespeare’s plays fertile ground for exploring politics.
Thus, we have Eliot Cohen, a Johns Hopkins professor in IR (international relations) and former State Department counselor, writing a book about Shakespeare and different aspects of political life. Cohen proves to be a very reliable and engaging guide as he knows his Shakespeare, and he’s able to bring in his first-hand and studied knowledge of contemporary politics into his consideration of Shakespeare’s work. Cohen ranges over the History Plays, the Roman trilogy, and Macbeth, foremost in his consideration of Shakespeare’s portrayal of politics and politicians. Cohen structures his book around themes of rise, rule, and fall. The material to consider these themes is so rich! The political weakness but poetic richness of Richard II and Henry VI; the ruthlessness of Macbeth and Richard III; the grandeur and foolishness of Coriolanus and Caesar; and the short-lived success of Henry V as he tries to cement the legacy of his father (Henry IV) against the Church, the British nobility, and populace, including his army. As certainly appropriate, Cohen quotes liberally from Shakespeare’s text, and Cohen’s commentary and analysis proves itself worthy of a Shakespeare scholar.
For anyone who might hold an interest in more deeply appreciating what the Bard reveals in his consideration of political actors—from the kindest to the most cruel, from the most effective to the most incompetent, and from the most admirable to the most despicable—this book will prove a pleasing read.