Shakespeare's Tragic SkepticismYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 304 páginas Readers of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies have long noted the absence of readily explainable motivations for some of Shakespeare’s greatest characters: why does Hamlet delay his revenge for so long? Why does King Lear choose to renounce his power? Why is Othello so vulnerable to Iago’s malice? But while many critics have chosen to overlook these omissions or explain them away, Millicent Bell demonstrates that they are essential elements of Shakespeare’s philosophy of doubt. Examining the major tragedies, Millicent Bell reveals the persistent strain of philosophical skepticism. Like his contemporary, Montaigne, Shakespeare repeatedly calls attention to the essential unknowability of our world. In a period of social, political, and religious upheaval, uncertainty hovered over matters great and small—the succession of the crown, the death of loved ones from plague, the failure of a harvest. Tumultuous social conditions raised ultimate questions for Shakespeare, Bell argues, and ultimately provoked in him a skepticism which casts shadows of existential doubt over his greatest masterpieces. |
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Página x
... plays of a skepticism that has been noted only in a partial , cur- sory way when it has been noted at all . If the plays express his thinking , he may have been someone who took seriously skeptical challenges erupting in his time ...
... plays of a skepticism that has been noted only in a partial , cur- sory way when it has been noted at all . If the plays express his thinking , he may have been someone who took seriously skeptical challenges erupting in his time ...
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... plays . Criticism has tended to overlook the apparent inconsistencies , gaps , and contradictions in Shakespeare's tragedies which I see not as faults of craft but as part ... play “ all moral structures , whether of natural order Preface xi.
... plays . Criticism has tended to overlook the apparent inconsistencies , gaps , and contradictions in Shakespeare's tragedies which I see not as faults of craft but as part ... play “ all moral structures , whether of natural order Preface xi.
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... play is problematic . " I have found it useful to go back to see how Shake- speare's relation to his sources often itself illustrated the problem as it was duplicated for the playwright in the creation of his plays . My perception that ...
... play is problematic . " I have found it useful to go back to see how Shake- speare's relation to his sources often itself illustrated the problem as it was duplicated for the playwright in the creation of his plays . My perception that ...
Página xiii
... play in which “ finality is regularly unattainable , ” and “ characters will not stay within limits , ” and " cause and effect do not work " ; the play manipulates the audi- ence to experience conflicted responses . I have also tried to ...
... play in which “ finality is regularly unattainable , ” and “ characters will not stay within limits , ” and " cause and effect do not work " ; the play manipulates the audi- ence to experience conflicted responses . I have also tried to ...
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... plays sometimes suggest , be so elusive and variable as to bring its very existence into question . Though Shakespeare makes character so vivid that it survives all inconsistency and seems almost to require no proof of itself , I shall ...
... plays sometimes suggest , be so elusive and variable as to bring its very existence into question . Though Shakespeare makes character so vivid that it survives all inconsistency and seems almost to require no proof of itself , I shall ...
Contenido
1 | |
29 | |
2 Othellos Jealousy | 80 |
3 Unaccommodated Lear | 138 |
4 Macbeths Deeds | 191 |
The Roman Frame | 241 |
Selected Bibliography | 279 |
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Términos y frases comunes
action actor ambiguous ambition Antony and Cleopatra Antony's appears asks audience Banquo blood Brabantio Brutus called Cassio cause character Cinthio Claudius Cordelia crime daughters death deed denies Desdemona doubt dramatic Duncan Edgar Edmund Emilia expressed faith false father feel fideism Florio Folio Fool Fortinbras fourth act ghost Gloucester Goneril Hamlet hath hear Horatio human Iago Iago's idea identity imagination jealousy Julius Caesar Kent killed King Lear Lady Macbeth Laertes lago Lear's Macduff Machiavellian madness Malcolm marriage meaning mind Montaigne Montaigne's motive murder nature never observed Ophelia Othello philosophic skepticism play's playwright plot Plutarch Polonius prophecy Quarto reference Regan reminds revenge Roderigo role royal says scene seems selfhood sense sexual Shake Shakespeare Shakespeare's play skepticism social soliloquy someone speaks speare's stage story suggested tells theater theatrical things thou thought tion tragedy tragic trial true truth witchcraft witches word