Book Review: "How the Classics Made Shakespeare" by Jonathan Bate

I love reading about Shakespeare and that's been true for more than fifteen years. As of March 2025, that has not changed. If you've loved the articles I've written about Shakespeare then I think you'll quite enjoy that there are books and readings behind them. As I've constantly said, you should always be exploring those secondary source lists to gain access to some really insightful books. One of these books is called How the Classics Made Shakespeare by Jonathan Bate. It is a fantastic work of nonfiction that does a deep-dive exploration into how Shakespeare's classical education in his stint at Grammar School influenced parts of his writing and the philosophies expressed in them.

The author argues that Ovid’s Metamorphoses was Shakespeare’s most significant classical source. The theme of transformation pervades Shakespeare’s plays, from Bottom’s literal metamorphosis in A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the symbolic transformations of identity in Twelfth Night. Ovid’s tales of doomed love, supernatural punishment, and poetic beauty find echoes in Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, and Venus and Adonis. Ovidian storytelling’s emphasis on fluidity and change inspired Shakespeare’s dynamic characterisation and his ability to blend comedy with tragedy. When I was at university and reading Ovid's Metamorphoses this is one of the things I thought about: his influence on Shakespeare's plays. It took me a while to make the connection between this text and Bottom's transformation, but it has been a great thing to read about and so interesting to explore.

Bate highlights the Roman playwright Seneca’s impact on Shakespeare’s approach to tragedy. I wrote an article about Seneca's influence on Shakespeare as well. You can read it here. Seneca’s works, which were widely read in Elizabethan England, influenced Hamlet, Macbeth, and Titus Andronicus with their themes of revenge, supernatural interventions, and rhetorical monologues. Senecan tragedy emphasised violent spectacle and introspective soliloquies, elements that Shakespeare adapted to heighten dramatic intensity. The ghost in Hamlet and the psychological torment of Macbeth bear clear traces of Seneca’s tragic philosophy. I absolutely loved reading Seneca and, whilst at university, I would make full use of the university library and online journals to pack in as much reading as I could before I left and lost my access. I was always cautious. I was surprised that I had not read this book in its entirety though. Thankfully, the library had a copy.

The author also illustrates how Shakespeare absorbed the principles of classical rhetoric, particularly those of Cicero. The eloquent arguments in Julius Caesar, especially Mark Antony’s funeral speech, showcase Shakespeare’s mastery of persuasion, irony, and logical appeal. The use of rhetorical devices such as: anaphora, parallelism, and antithesis in Richard III and Othello further demonstrate how deeply Shakespeare engaged with Roman oratorical traditions. In the past, I have read a few great books about Cicero but none of which mentioned this great power he had in Shakespeare's writing of rhetoric and, if you're like me, then it seems so obvious now. I kind of have to sit back and wonder about how I never saw this before.

Rather than blindly venerating the classical past, Shakespeare often critiques its ideals. Jonathan Bate notes that Shakespeare’s Rome is not a utopia but a flawed society plagued by corruption, civil strife, and moral ambiguity. In Troilus and Cressida, he deconstructs the heroic myths of the Trojan War, portraying the Greek and Trojan leaders as self-serving and cynical. This ironic approach suggests Shakespeare’s skepticism about the classical world’s relevance to Renaissance England. I think this is an interesting angle to take because of Shakespeare's obvious appreciation for the stories and narratives that came out of the Roman world. Shakespeare is known for having seen the humanity in these stories, which is why his plays still endure today. But, I think it is much more than that - it possible he saw the ironies presented by the different perspectives of morality, the humanity of people is therefore essentially flawed and deserves its punishment. I just loved delving into that world.

All in all, I think this book has been a really informative read. If you love reading about classical literature and/or Shakespeare then this book is for you. It is so accessible and the book is written less like a bland academic text and more like a deep-dive, an analysis and a compelling piece of research, rich in its ability to make connection and embrace the world of Shakespeare on a new level.