The Moral Universe of Shakespeare's Problem PlaysWhat is it that makes Shakespeare’s problem plays problematic? Many critics have sought for the underlying vision or message of these puzzling and disturbing dramas. Originally published in 1987, the key to Viv Thomas’s new synthesis of the plays is the idea of fracture and dissolution in the universe. From the collapse of ‘degree’ in Troilus and Cressida to the corruption at the heart of innocence in Measure for Measure, to the puzzling status of virtue and valour in All’s Well, the most obvious feature of these plays in their capacity to prompt new questions. In a detailed discussion of each play in turn, the author traces the dominant themes that both distinguish and unite them, and provides numerous insights into the sources, background, texture and morality of the plays. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 44
... feels, but he insists on a close affinity between Troilus and Cressida and Timon of Athens: 'we must notice a striking ... feeling is neither of simple joy nor pain; we are excited, fascinated, perplexed, for the issues raised preclude a ...
... feeling is neither of simple joy nor pain'. These plays are puzzles which — even if we exclude Hamlet — cannot adequately be described as comedies. Boas, then, distinguishes these plays from the rest of the Shakespearian canon in terms ...
... feeling that 'everything's going to be all right after all.' Such plays illustrate what we have been calling the myth of deliverance, a sense of energies released by forgiveness and reconciliation, where Eros triumphs over Nomos or law ...
... feeling of the modern reader is of the extent of the differences between Shakespeare's play and those with which it is compared — differences which are not simply attributable to the resources of the dramatists. One example will suffice ...
... feeling the release or joy inherent in Shakespeare's romantic comedies. Whatever affinities these plays may share with Hamlet or Timon of Athens the feelings engendered by those plays are different and belong distinctly to the world of ...
Contents
Wholeness and Division in Troilus and Cressida | |
Virtue and Honour in Alls Well that Ends Well | |
Order and Authority in Measure for Measure | |
Conclusion | |
Bibliography | |