Shame in ShakespeareRoutledge, 2012 M09 10 - 288 pages One of the most intense and painful of our human passions, shame is typically seen in contemporary culture as a disability or a disease to be cured. Shakespeare's ultimately positive portrayal of the emotion challenges this view. Drawing on philosophers and theorists of shame, Shame in Shakespeare analyses the shame and humiliation suffered by the tragic hero, providing not only a new approach to Shakespeare but a committed and provocative argument for reclaiming shame. The volume provides: · an account of previous traditions of shame and of the Renaissance context · a thematic map of the rich manifestations of both masculine and feminine shame in Shakespeare · detailed readings of Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear · an analysis of the limitations of Roman shame in Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus · a polemical discussion of the fortunes of shame in modern literature after Shakespeare. The book presents a Shakespearean vision of shame as the way to the world outside the self. It establishes the continued vitality and relevance of Shakespeare and offers a fresh and exciting way of seeing his tragedies. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 39
Page 1
... reveal a constant preoccupation , even an obsession , with shame in the work of William Shakespeare . It presents a Shakespearean vision of shame as a painful rehearsal for the dissolution of death or an experience of dreadful metamor ...
... reveal a constant preoccupation , even an obsession , with shame in the work of William Shakespeare . It presents a Shakespearean vision of shame as a painful rehearsal for the dissolution of death or an experience of dreadful metamor ...
Page 9
... reveals our very physical concept of personality : we imagine even our most disembodied qualities in physical terms . Antonio in Twelfth Night goes so far as to say , ' In nature there is no blemish but the mind : / None can be call'd ...
... reveals our very physical concept of personality : we imagine even our most disembodied qualities in physical terms . Antonio in Twelfth Night goes so far as to say , ' In nature there is no blemish but the mind : / None can be call'd ...
Page 21
... revealed as ' sovereign shame ' in King Lear . It is why all shame , and not just moral shame , can be a spiritual opportunity . In the perspective I am outlining here , we get a first glimpse of the paradox that outright shame is more ...
... revealed as ' sovereign shame ' in King Lear . It is why all shame , and not just moral shame , can be a spiritual opportunity . In the perspective I am outlining here , we get a first glimpse of the paradox that outright shame is more ...
Page 23
... reveals the luridly shameful prospect of the protagonist's insane self - glorification amid the slaughtered sheep and oxen he has mistaken for his enemies . His chief enemy Odysseus murmurs , ' This touches / My state as well as his ...
... reveals the luridly shameful prospect of the protagonist's insane self - glorification amid the slaughtered sheep and oxen he has mistaken for his enemies . His chief enemy Odysseus murmurs , ' This touches / My state as well as his ...
Page 27
... revealed covered in gore , exulting over the carcasses of dead animals he supposes to be those of his enemies . I have indicated already that even his worst enemy , Odysseus , is smitten with shame at this grotesque prospect of human ...
... revealed covered in gore , exulting over the carcasses of dead animals he supposes to be those of his enemies . I have indicated already that even his worst enemy , Odysseus , is smitten with shame at this grotesque prospect of human ...
Contents
1 | |
24 | |
Shame in the Renaissance | 41 |
Shame in Shakespeare | 74 |
Hamlet | 109 |
Othello | 136 |
King Lear | 173 |
Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus | 208 |
Conclusion | 224 |
Notes | 247 |
References | 255 |
Index | 265 |
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Common terms and phrases
accept action already Antony audience becomes beginning blush body calls Cassio chapter Christian classical Cleopatra Cordelia Coriolanus corruption critics culture daughter death deformity degradation Desdemona desire disgrace effect ethical example experience exposed exposure expression eyes face fall father fear feels figure finds Fool gives guilt Hamlet hand heart hero honour human Iago identity killing kind King Lear later Lear's less lines literature live look lost Measure moral mother nature never notes once original Othello pain particular partly perhaps person play presents puts reading reason recognises religious Renaissance René Girard represents revealed revenge Richard says scene seems seen sense sense of shame sexual Shakespeare shame shamelessness Sonnet soul speak spiritual stage suffering suggests takes tells theatre thing thou thought tion tragedy true truth turn ultimately wife worldly writes