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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Resultados 1-5 de 28
Página xiv
... lost and won . " And in this way Shakespeare stands outside any system that presumes the imperatives of a culture to be inherent in the nature of things — though the New Historicist Stephen Greenblatt probably would deny that there is ...
... lost and won . " And in this way Shakespeare stands outside any system that presumes the imperatives of a culture to be inherent in the nature of things — though the New Historicist Stephen Greenblatt probably would deny that there is ...
Página 6
... lost confidence in the progress of events as a comprehensible sequence . Over the whole complex scene in which thought and life interacted and reflected one another , there hung a doubt of the human capacity to perceive life truly ...
... lost confidence in the progress of events as a comprehensible sequence . Over the whole complex scene in which thought and life interacted and reflected one another , there hung a doubt of the human capacity to perceive life truly ...
Página 11
... lost . For so very many , either way , the scheme of life that had once defined what one was and how one would live one's life had so thoroughly disappeared that there was a changeover in the traditional social categories that contain ...
... lost . For so very many , either way , the scheme of life that had once defined what one was and how one would live one's life had so thoroughly disappeared that there was a changeover in the traditional social categories that contain ...
Página 31
... lost Revenge Tragedy , also by Thomas Kyd . This " ur - Hamlet , " as the scholars call it , was undoubtedly the play remembered by a contemporary as including a “ ghost who cried so miserably at the Theatre like an oyster - wife ...
... lost Revenge Tragedy , also by Thomas Kyd . This " ur - Hamlet , " as the scholars call it , was undoubtedly the play remembered by a contemporary as including a “ ghost who cried so miserably at the Theatre like an oyster - wife ...
Página 32
... lost “ ur - Hamlet , ” and that what we have is only a revision of his own earlier work . But this seems unlikely . The play we know is consciously set against another version of its story and seems to question that version's ...
... lost “ ur - Hamlet , ” and that what we have is only a revision of his own earlier work . But this seems unlikely . The play we know is consciously set against another version of its story and seems to question that version's ...
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