What do we mean by a hero and where does our understanding of the 'heroic' idiom come from?

In this lecture, Jonathan Bate will show how Shakespeare's idea of the hero was shaped by the classical tradition, going back to the ancient tale of Troy and Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid. But in Hamlet and Troilus and Cressida we meet a Shakespeare who was profoundly sceptical about the heroic ideal.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/shakespeares-heroes

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

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