Shakespeare's Tragic SkepticismYale University Press, 2002 M01 1 - 283 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 xiii
... never have for- mulated such a matter so abstractly . Uncertainty about the expla- nation of events large or small , whether the succession of the crown or a failed harvest or a child's death , made obscure , however un- philosophically ...
... never have for- mulated such a matter so abstractly . Uncertainty about the expla- nation of events large or small , whether the succession of the crown or a failed harvest or a child's death , made obscure , however un- philosophically ...
Página 1
... never be right ; and if we can never be right , it is better that we should from time to time change our way of being wrong . " In offering a skeptical Shakespeare , a doubter of many received views about humanity and the universe , I ...
... never be right ; and if we can never be right , it is better that we should from time to time change our way of being wrong . " In offering a skeptical Shakespeare , a doubter of many received views about humanity and the universe , I ...
Página 4
... never believed or loved , and whose character belongs to the genre of comedy . That ideas contend with one another in Shakespeare's writ- ing is a quality he shares with the skeptic near - contemporary with whom I find him comparable ...
... never believed or loved , and whose character belongs to the genre of comedy . That ideas contend with one another in Shakespeare's writ- ing is a quality he shares with the skeptic near - contemporary with whom I find him comparable ...
Página 5
... never allegorical- they never dramatize directly the contest of ideas — yet in them ideas contend from line to line in the richest language the stage has ever known . Through the action and language of the plays he invites his audiences ...
... never allegorical- they never dramatize directly the contest of ideas — yet in them ideas contend from line to line in the richest language the stage has ever known . Through the action and language of the plays he invites his audiences ...
Página 6
... never explains the fate of those absent children to whom she once gave suck may not have seemed a puzzle to early audiences ; only half of London's children survived into adulthood . The sudden death of old as well as young was a ...
... never explains the fate of those absent children to whom she once gave suck may not have seemed a puzzle to early audiences ; only half of London's children survived into adulthood . The sudden death of old as well as young was a ...
Contenido
Hamlet Revenge | 29 |
Othellos Jealousy | 80 |
Unaccommodated Lear | 138 |
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 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 Holinshed 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 Roman 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
Referencias a este libro
Vanities of the Eye: Vision in Early Modern European Culture Stuart Clark Sin vista previa disponible - 2007 |
Special Section, Shakespeare and Montaigne Revisited Graham Bradshaw,T. G. Bishop,Peter Holbrook Vista previa limitada - 2006 |