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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... doubts of what had long been assumed about the universe and mankind but also doubt con- cerning the reliability of our own power to perceive and conclude anything . Montaigne's ideas , expressed in the famous essays Shake- speare ...
... doubts of what had long been assumed about the universe and mankind but also doubt con- cerning the reliability of our own power to perceive and conclude anything . Montaigne's ideas , expressed in the famous essays Shake- speare ...
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Millicent Bell. in these plays and bring such coherence and meaning into doubt . They even , finally , provoke us to wonder what one might really know about these matters or anything else . One might doubt that human perception was a ...
Millicent Bell. in these plays and bring such coherence and meaning into doubt . They even , finally , provoke us to wonder what one might really know about these matters or anything else . One might doubt that human perception was a ...
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... , made his famous en- cyclopedic dictionary a dramatization of the “ method of doubt , ” in which one opinion was posed against another . I am suggest- ing that Shakespeare's thought , if we can assert anything 4 Introduction.
... , made his famous en- cyclopedic dictionary a dramatization of the “ method of doubt , ” in which one opinion was posed against another . I am suggest- ing that Shakespeare's thought , if we can assert anything 4 Introduction.
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... doubts were contending in men's minds - put contrary views into combat to test their strength . His plays are never allegorical— they never dramatize directly the contest of ideas - yet in them ideas contend from line to line in the ...
... doubts were contending in men's minds - put contrary views into combat to test their strength . His plays are never allegorical— they never dramatize directly the contest of ideas - yet in them ideas contend from line to line in the ...
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... doubt of the human capacity to perceive life truly . This doubt is expressed with a curious precision in Othello but could also have been heard in contemporary witchcraft trials , a parallel I shall have occasion to enlarge upon in my ...
... doubt of the human capacity to perceive life truly . This doubt is expressed with a curious precision in Othello but could also have been heard in contemporary witchcraft trials , a parallel I shall have occasion to enlarge upon in my ...
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