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
... witness as the poetry and action go forward in these plays is a nostalgic attachment to those very convictions skepticism denies . In these dramatic explorations one can sometimes come upon a denial of denial itself . The result is a ...
... witness as the poetry and action go forward in these plays is a nostalgic attachment to those very convictions skepticism denies . In these dramatic explorations one can sometimes come upon a denial of denial itself . The result is a ...
Página xii
... witness not only in King Lear but in the other plays . I have remained impressed by Norman Rabkin's pioneering suggestion , in Shakespeare and the Common Understanding ( 1954 ) as well as his more recent Shakespeare and the Problem of ...
... witness not only in King Lear but in the other plays . I have remained impressed by Norman Rabkin's pioneering suggestion , in Shakespeare and the Common Understanding ( 1954 ) as well as his more recent Shakespeare and the Problem of ...
Página 34
... Gonzago " challenges the objective status of events that are supposed to have preceded those we have been permitted to witness directly . It also reminds us that these later visible events are themselves the 34 Hamlet , Revenge !
... Gonzago " challenges the objective status of events that are supposed to have preceded those we have been permitted to witness directly . It also reminds us that these later visible events are themselves the 34 Hamlet , Revenge !
Página 35
... witnesses . But he may be acting a role for unseen viewers whose presence he suspects . Like a script , the constraints of social life and inherited or acquired forms , it is implied , limit the spec- tator in the theater to a life of ...
... witnesses . But he may be acting a role for unseen viewers whose presence he suspects . Like a script , the constraints of social life and inherited or acquired forms , it is implied , limit the spec- tator in the theater to a life of ...
Página 39
... witnesses at a banquet and who knows that vengeance is on its way unless he finishes off the probable avenger , and such a Hamlet could only hope to protect himself by pretending to be an idiot or a madman . After the ghost's revelation ...
... witnesses at a banquet and who knows that vengeance is on its way unless he finishes off the probable avenger , and such a Hamlet could only hope to protect himself by pretending to be an idiot or a madman . After the ghost's revelation ...
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