How can New Historicism be applied to Shakespeare's plays Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello?

New historicism is a kind of literary criticism that arose
in the 1980s.  One of the ways in which it differs from traditional historicism is in
its emphasis on a multiplicity of historical contexts for literary works, rather than
single contexts.  For instance, E. M. W. Tillyard’s famous book The
Elizabethan World Picture can be seen as a product of traditional historical
criticism. The very title of the book suggests that there was such a thing as
“The” Elizabethan world picture. In other words, the very title of
the book implies that Elizabethans broadly agreed about how to view the world. New
historicists would argue, on the other hand, that it is too simplistic to talk about any
single, unified view of the world during any
historical era, especially the Elizabethan period, which was a time of enormous tension
(especially having to do with religion). Instead, new historicists would suggest that
any historical era, event, or product is a site of conflict and contention and
negotiation. In other words, new historicism often emphasizes power struggles of all
kinds in every aspect of history, including literary
texts.

Power struggles, of course, are main features of
Hamlet, Macbeth, and
Othello. In Hamlet, for example, Hamlet
becomes engaged in a highly dangerous power struggle with his uncle, Claudius. In
Macbeth, the title character struggles for power not only with
other Scottish aristocrats but also with his own wife. In Othello,
Iago is engaged in a struggle for power with Othello, with Cassio, and even with
Desdemona, although none of these three characters is really aware of the struggle until
the end of the play. A new historicist analysis of the power struggles in these plays
would, however, not stop with these obvious struggles but would explore the ways in
which issues of power are all-pervasive in these dramas. New historicists would also
explore the ways in which these plays were not only influenced by
history (a common approach of traditional historicism) but how they also in turn
participated in history and influenced history
themselves.

See: E. M. W. Tillyard, The
Elizabethan World Picture (London: Chatto and Windus,
1943).

See also: H. Aram Veeser, ed. The New
Historicism (New York: Routledge, 1989).