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 ix
... tended to confine and reduce their variousness and contradictions . There has always been a simplifying readiness to impose the critic's own con- ix ventional ideas about life and its meaning upon Shakespeare— to Preface.
... tended to confine and reduce their variousness and contradictions . There has always been a simplifying readiness to impose the critic's own con- ix ventional ideas about life and its meaning upon Shakespeare— to Preface.
Page x
... ideas that reassur- ingly " make sense " of experience for the majority of mankind in each generation — especially ideas about the definition and stability of human character and the moral significance of behavior , or even about the ...
... ideas that reassur- ingly " make sense " of experience for the majority of mankind in each generation — especially ideas about the definition and stability of human character and the moral significance of behavior , or even about the ...
Page xi
... idea " was an exaggeration of a vital truth " because " it is a tragic fact " that " men may start a course of ... Idea , 1968 ) , which challenged the dominating " providential " interpreta- tion Bradley had clung to despite his ...
... idea " was an exaggeration of a vital truth " because " it is a tragic fact " that " men may start a course of ... Idea , 1968 ) , which challenged the dominating " providential " interpreta- tion Bradley had clung to despite his ...
Page xii
... idea of universal divine governance but also of the humanist faith in the heroic self . Jonathan Dolliver , in Radical Tragedy : Religion , Ideol- ogy , and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare's Contemporaries ( 1984 ) , said that the ...
... idea of universal divine governance but also of the humanist faith in the heroic self . Jonathan Dolliver , in Radical Tragedy : Religion , Ideol- ogy , and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare's Contemporaries ( 1984 ) , said that the ...
Page xv
... ideas . But he does employ a concept he calls " perspectivism " to describe a relativism resulting from such unresolved contrasts of viewpoint as that of Othello and Iago , I have been interested further in the effect of uncertainty ...
... ideas . But he does employ a concept he calls " perspectivism " to describe a relativism resulting from such unresolved contrasts of viewpoint as that of Othello and Iago , I have been interested further in the effect of uncertainty ...
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