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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... sometimes come upon a denial of denial itself. The result is a contest of feelings and ideas. Contradicting effects come into view as we discover the theatricality of life in Hamlet, epistemological anguish in Othello, the view that man ...
... sometimes come upon a denial of denial itself. The result is a contest of feelings and ideas. Contradicting effects come into view as we discover the theatricality of life in Hamlet, epistemological anguish in Othello, the view that man ...
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... sometimes dissenting readings be attributed. Speaking of editions, I should point out that though I have resorted to editions of Shakespeare that generally ''modernize'' his original text somewhat, I have not followed the same practice ...
... sometimes dissenting readings be attributed. Speaking of editions, I should point out that though I have resorted to editions of Shakespeare that generally ''modernize'' his original text somewhat, I have not followed the same practice ...
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... sometimes suggest, be so elusive and variable as to bring its very existence into question. Though Shakespeare makes character sovivid that it survives allinconsistencyandseems almost to require no proof of itself,I shall argue that the ...
... sometimes suggest, be so elusive and variable as to bring its very existence into question. Though Shakespeare makes character sovivid that it survives allinconsistencyandseems almost to require no proof of itself,I shall argue that the ...
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... sometimes givenfor the slaughterofthe city's dogs and cats, though these animals were the population's safeguards against the London rat, the real vector. The secret causes of things were hidden from sight. The Elizabethan-Jacobean ...
... sometimes givenfor the slaughterofthe city's dogs and cats, though these animals were the population's safeguards against the London rat, the real vector. The secret causes of things were hidden from sight. The Elizabethan-Jacobean ...
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... perswade themselves to be of more sufficiency than the vulgar sort. So was I sometimes wont to doe, and if I heard any body speake, either of ghosts walking, of foretelling future things, of enchantments, of witchcrafts, Introduction.
... perswade themselves to be of more sufficiency than the vulgar sort. So was I sometimes wont to doe, and if I heard any body speake, either of ghosts walking, of foretelling future things, of enchantments, of witchcrafts, Introduction.
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