Shakespeare and the History of SoliloquiesProvides the first systematic and comprehensive account of the conventions governing soliloquies in Western drama from ancient times to the twentieth century. Over the course of theatrical history, there have been several kinds of soliloquies. Shakespeare's soliloquies are not only the most interesting and the most famous, but also the most misunderstood, and several chapters examine them in detail. The present study is based on a painstaking analysis of the actual practices of dramatists from each age of theatrical history. This investigation has uncovered evidence that refutes long-standing commonplaces about soliloquies in general, about Shakespeare's soliloquies in particular, and especially about the to be, or not to be episode. 'Shakespeare and the history of Soliloquies' casts new lights on historical changes in the artistic representation of human beings and, because representations cannot be entirely disentangled from perception, on historical changes in the ways human beings have perceived theselves. |
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Page 46
... gives voice to a vow concerning his relationship with God , and then addresses God directly in a prayer : Then Jacob made a vow , saying , “ If God will be with me , and will keep me in this way that I go , and will give me bread to eat ...
... gives voice to a vow concerning his relationship with God , and then addresses God directly in a prayer : Then Jacob made a vow , saying , “ If God will be with me , and will keep me in this way that I go , and will give me bread to eat ...
Page 57
... give readers direct access to the mind of a deity . Furthermore , that Jesus speaks to himself illustrates certain ... give his thoughts physical expression . That he speaks to himself empha- sizes his loneliness - no earthly being could ...
... give readers direct access to the mind of a deity . Furthermore , that Jesus speaks to himself illustrates certain ... give his thoughts physical expression . That he speaks to himself empha- sizes his loneliness - no earthly being could ...
Page 361
... give the illu- sion of non - speaking , a particular strain on verisimilitude when , as is not infrequently the case in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama , such spoken non - speech is overheard ( 74 ) . In an endnote linked to the end of ...
... give the illu- sion of non - speaking , a particular strain on verisimilitude when , as is not infrequently the case in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama , such spoken non - speech is overheard ( 74 ) . In an endnote linked to the end of ...
Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Representation of Speech | 35 |
From Antiquity to the Middle of the Sixteenth | 62 |
Copyright | |
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acters action actor addressed speech addressed to playgoers addresses playgoers apostrophe audience address Betterton boy actor chapter char character's characters onstage Claudius clearly conventions governing soliloquies Davenant Davenant's direct access dominant convention dramatic context dramatists earlier eavesdropping eavesdropping episodes enemy evidence explicit explicitly expresses father feigned soliloquy genuine soliloquy gives voice guard his speech guarded in asides Hamlet heard hearing human Iago imagine incongruities innermost thoughts interior monologue kinds of soliloquies King King Lear late seventeenth century later liloquies Love's Labor's Lost Menaechmus mind offstage Ophelia oquies Othello outward behavior overheard soliloquies passage performed playgoers Polonius post-Renaissance presence pretends quies Renaissance Renaissance drama Renaissance playgoers representation Richard Romeo says scene self-addressed speech Shake Shakespeare's plays Shakespeare's soliloquies Shakespeare's theater situation solilo soliloquies and asides soliloquies in Shakespeare's soliloquies represented speech soliloquy guarded speaker speare's theatrical Thomas Betterton thou tion Troilus and Cressida unspoken thoughts words spoken