Shakespeare's Tragic SkepticismYale University Press, 01/10/2008 - 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 ix
... Shake- speare knows that it is really not possible to acknowledge fully the diverse influences of past criticism upon one's present thinking. So in writing this book I have avoided massive annotation. I have also tried to restrain ...
... Shake- speare knows that it is really not possible to acknowledge fully the diverse influences of past criticism upon one's present thinking. So in writing this book I have avoided massive annotation. I have also tried to restrain ...
Página x
... Shake- speare certainly read , became a repeated reference in my book as representation of a general skeptical viewpoint emerging in the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries . I have felt it important , how- ever , also to note that ...
... Shake- speare certainly read , became a repeated reference in my book as representation of a general skeptical viewpoint emerging in the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries . I have felt it important , how- ever , also to note that ...
Página xi
... Shake- spearean tragedy “ may be said with equal truth to lie in action issu- ing from character , or in character issuing from action . ” But un- like many less keenly observant critics who have come in Bradley's wake , he himself ...
... Shake- spearean tragedy “ may be said with equal truth to lie in action issu- ing from character , or in character issuing from action . ” But un- like many less keenly observant critics who have come in Bradley's wake , he himself ...
Página xii
... Shake- speare's relation to his sources often itself illustrated the problem as it was duplicated for the playwright in the creation of his plays . My perception that this relation was often an ironic one had been strengthened when I ...
... Shake- speare's relation to his sources often itself illustrated the problem as it was duplicated for the playwright in the creation of his plays . My perception that this relation was often an ironic one had been strengthened when I ...
Página xv
... Shake- speare's plays I have quoted from - G . R. Hibbard , editor of the 1987 Oxford Hamlet ; E. A. J. Honigmann , editor of the 1997 Arden Othello ; R. A. Foakes , editor of the 1997 Arden King Lear ; A. R. Braunmuller , editor of the ...
... Shake- speare's plays I have quoted from - G . R. Hibbard , editor of the 1987 Oxford Hamlet ; E. A. J. Honigmann , editor of the 1997 Arden Othello ; R. A. Foakes , editor of the 1997 Arden King Lear ; A. R. Braunmuller , editor of the ...
Índice
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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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