Shakespeare's Mad Men : A Crisis of Authority Paperback / softback
by Richard van Oort
Part of the Square One: First-Order Questions in the Humanities series
Paperback / softback
Description
This book is about a mad king and a mad duke. With original and iconoclastic readings, Richard van Oort pioneers the reading of Shakespeare as an ethical thinker of the "originary scene," the scene in which humans became conscious of themselves as symbol-using moral and narrative beings.
Taking King Lear and Measure for Measure as case studies, van Oort shows how the minimal concept of an anthropological scene of origin—the "originary hypothesis"—provides the basis for a new understanding of every aspect of the plays, from the psychology of the characters to the ethical and dialogical conflicts upon which the drama is based.
The result is a gripping commentary on the plays. Why does Lear abdicate and go mad? Why does Edgar torture his father with non-recognition?
Why does Lucio accuse the Duke in Measure for Measure of madness and lechery, and why does Isabella remain silent at the end?
In approaching these and other questions from the perspective of the originary hypothesis, van Oort helps us to see the ethical predicament of the plays, and, in the process, makes Shakespeare new again.
Information
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Only a few left - usually despatched within 24 hours
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:304 pages
- Publisher:Stanford University Press
- Publication Date:18/10/2022
- Category:
- ISBN:9781503633575
Other Formats
- Hardback from £76.05
£25.99
£21.89
Information
-
Only a few left - usually despatched within 24 hours
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:304 pages
- Publisher:Stanford University Press
- Publication Date:18/10/2022
- Category:
- ISBN:9781503633575
