Shakespeare's Tragic SkepticismReaders 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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Page x
... expressed in the famous essays 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 ...
... expressed in the famous essays 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 ...
Page 2
... expression of the critic's own bias . Any correspondence I feel be- tween my own doubting mood at the start of a new century and Shakespeare's own fin - de - siecle condition may be an illusion , just as the biases of earlier readers ...
... expression of the critic's own bias . Any correspondence I feel be- tween my own doubting mood at the start of a new century and Shakespeare's own fin - de - siecle condition may be an illusion , just as the biases of earlier readers ...
Page 6
... expressed with a curious precision in Othello but could also have been heard in contemporary witchcraft trials , a parallel I shall have occasion to enlarge upon in my chapter dealing with that play . Is it too simple to suppose that ...
... expressed with a curious precision in Othello but could also have been heard in contemporary witchcraft trials , a parallel I shall have occasion to enlarge upon in my chapter dealing with that play . Is it too simple to suppose that ...
Page 16
... expression of a rule of universal order . The witchcraft trials of the day , which Shakespeare must have followed with the same curiosity as everyone else , were , moreover , a demonstration of how inaccessible all truth might seem — a ...
... expression of a rule of universal order . The witchcraft trials of the day , which Shakespeare must have followed with the same curiosity as everyone else , were , moreover , a demonstration of how inaccessible all truth might seem — a ...
Page 18
... expression of heav- enly purpose - a skepticism that more and more fitted the modus of the Tudor politician , however much such a thought seemed nearly atheistic . Fear of the Florentine's practical counsel to ambi- tious men was expressed ...
... expression of heav- enly purpose - a skepticism that more and more fitted the modus of the Tudor politician , however much such a thought seemed nearly atheistic . Fear of the Florentine's practical counsel to ambi- tious men was expressed ...
Contents
Hamlet Revenge | 29 |
Othellos Jealousy | 80 |
Unaccommodated Lear | 138 |
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 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 Holinshed 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 Roman 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