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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... merely a feature of his response to the dogmas of his religion. They are duplicated in his attitudes toward numerous other generally accepted assumptions about mankind and theworld.Taken as a whole,Montaigne's essays dramatize the ...
... merely a feature of his response to the dogmas of his religion. They are duplicated in his attitudes toward numerous other generally accepted assumptions about mankind and theworld.Taken as a whole,Montaigne's essays dramatize the ...
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... merely of ideas but of a personality in which so many irreconcilabilities co- habit that he seems, if we watch too closely, to be not one but a dozen separate persons—and only Shakespeare's incomparable way of giving all his hero's ...
... merely of ideas but of a personality in which so many irreconcilabilities co- habit that he seems, if we watch too closely, to be not one but a dozen separate persons—and only Shakespeare's incomparable way of giving all his hero's ...
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... merely poetic metaphor of social and po- litical turmoil but literal symptoms of discord and disorder in all things. Not only had there been an earthquake in London in , but the heavens seemed to manifest the arrest of normal ...
... merely poetic metaphor of social and po- litical turmoil but literal symptoms of discord and disorder in all things. Not only had there been an earthquake in London in , but the heavens seemed to manifest the arrest of normal ...
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... merely a matter of the wearing-out of theatrical motifs. In Shakespeare's time, we must remind ourselves, the ancient re- venge theme remembered in medieval traditions of tribal feud was already an archaic idea. With the ascension of ...
... merely a matter of the wearing-out of theatrical motifs. In Shakespeare's time, we must remind ourselves, the ancient re- venge theme remembered in medieval traditions of tribal feud was already an archaic idea. With the ascension of ...
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... mere appearance of repentance. Hamlet himself is observed by Polonius from behind an arras both inthe ''nunnery'' scene with Ophelia and the parallel scene with his mother in her closet.The theatricality of the situation may lie in ...
... mere appearance of repentance. Hamlet himself is observed by Polonius from behind an arras both inthe ''nunnery'' scene with Ophelia and the parallel scene with his mother in her closet.The theatricality of the situation may lie in ...
Contenido
2 Othellos Jealousy | |
3 Unaccommodated Lear | |
4 Macbeths Deeds | |
The Roman Frame | |
Selected Bibliography | |
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Términos y frases comunes
action actor already Antony appears asks audience become beginning believe body bring Brutus Caesar called Cassio cause character Cleopatra comes continue Cordelia course crime critics daughters death deed denies Desdemona different doubt Duncan earlier effect evidence expect expressed fact faith false father feel find first follow force future ghost give Hamlet hand hear heart Holinshed human Iago Iago’s idea identity imagination Kent killed kind King Lear Lady language Lear’s lives look lost Macbeth madness meaning merely mind Montaigne murder nature never observed off once Othello perhaps play plot present reason reference relation remark reminds represented revenge role royal says scene seems seen sense Shake Shakespeare skepticism social soliloquy sometimes speaks stage story suggested tells theater things thou thought tion tragedy true truth witchcraft witches witnesses