Shakespeare criticism has long been recognised as a touchstone to shifts in our critical discourses. The following paper constitutes an examination of two conflicting discourses. The analysis will be confined to the views presented in Stephen Greenblatt's article entitled "Martial Law in the Land of Cockaigne" and Ben Ross Schneider, Jr's "Are We Being Historical Yet?": Colonialist Interpretations of Shakespeare's Tempest - a contest, if you will, between two different theoretical positions as to where …showed first 75 words of 2053 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2053 total…blind to certain areas in order to elucidate others. The trick is to pick that model which appropriates the most meaning. In this instance, that choice lies with Stephen Greenblatt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** Bibliography Stephen Greenblatt, "Martial law in the land of Cockaigne", in Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988). Ben Ross Schneider, Jr, "Are We Being Historical Yet?": Colonialist Interpretations of Shakespeare's Tempest, Shakespeare Studies 23 (1995), 120-45.