Shakespeare, Gender and Religion
A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 8
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In recent years, major collections bearing on the topic of early modern gender, such as The Ashgate Research Companion to Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (2015), have clarified the varied forms of resistance to patriarchal restriction, as well as the agency, of many early modern women. In a parallel development, the ‘turn to religion’ in early modern literary studies has re-evaluated the role and importance in the literary production of sixteenth-century religious change. So far, however, these two approaches have not been combined. Focusing on Shakespeare, this Special Issue from Humanities seeks to combine the insights of these new, gendered, and religious directions in early modern studies. In a series of articles on Shakespeare’s plays and poems, it will highlight the formative impact of religion in Shakespeare’s gendered depictions, refreshing the understanding of Shakespearean gender and illuminating the religion involved.
The Guest Editor for this Special Issue will be Prof. Dr. Thomas Rist, from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Articles accepted for this Special Issue should be 6000–7000 words long, including notes but not bibliography, and may be on any play or poetic work by William Shakespeare.
To contribute to this Special Issue, please send proposals of no more than 500 words to the Humanities Office at humanities@mdpi.com by no later than December 1st, 2025.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Rist
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Shakespeare
- gender
- religion
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
