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 xii
... faith in the heroic self . Jonathan Dolliver , in Radical Tragedy : Religion , Ideol- ogy , and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare's Contemporaries ( 1984 ) , said that the play “ repudiates the essentialism which the human- ist reading ...
... faith in the heroic self . Jonathan Dolliver , in Radical Tragedy : Religion , Ideol- ogy , and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare's Contemporaries ( 1984 ) , said that the play “ repudiates the essentialism which the human- ist reading ...
Página 11
... faith was more in- tense than it had been for centuries , this faith had the daunting task of keeping at bay the devastating idea that God did not exist at all . The charge of skepticism was everyone's term of abuse , though Erasmus had ...
... faith was more in- tense than it had been for centuries , this faith had the daunting task of keeping at bay the devastating idea that God did not exist at all . The charge of skepticism was everyone's term of abuse , though Erasmus had ...
Página 12
... faith in the place of rational proof - thus an escape from , not an assertion of , atheism . Before writing his famous essays , Montaigne had translated a book by the fifteenth - century Spanish theologian Raymond Sebond , which was put ...
... faith in the place of rational proof - thus an escape from , not an assertion of , atheism . Before writing his famous essays , Montaigne had translated a book by the fifteenth - century Spanish theologian Raymond Sebond , which was put ...
Página 13
... faith was not sin- cere — perhaps even passionate — precisely because it existed under threat . The fideist wall against doubt was always in danger of being breached . But his fideist faith is only one side of Montaigne's am- bivalence ...
... faith was not sin- cere — perhaps even passionate — precisely because it existed under threat . The fideist wall against doubt was always in danger of being breached . But his fideist faith is only one side of Montaigne's am- bivalence ...
Página 15
... faith . How complexly doubt and credulity — or faith - contested in the mind is well illustrated by the response even of advanced think- ers to the topic of witchcraft , the obsession of the age . Few disputed the existence and power of ...
... faith . How complexly doubt and credulity — or faith - contested in the mind is well illustrated by the response even of advanced think- ers to the topic of witchcraft , the obsession of the age . Few disputed the existence and power of ...
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