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
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... possible to formulate a satisfactory definition of the term 'problem play' and to state precisely why, if the term is to be of value, the designation is applicable to only three of Shakespeare's plays. Historically, the linking of these ...
... possible, in its several stages the growth of his intellect and character from youth to full maturity'. 4 What, for Dowden, represents a change of mental state would, for modern scholars, constitute a movement in interest or style — an ...
... possible or even probable.19 Schanzer argues that neither All's Well nor Troilus and Cressida exhibit a moral problem (for the latter play he suggests that the central issue is a metaphysical one: what is value?); and likewise he ...
... possible combinations. The first significant unifying feature of these plays is that we are left pondering the questions raised by the action rather than contemplating the sense of loss characteristic of tragedy or of feeling the ...
... possible source cited by Bullough, Muir and Palmer is Robert Greene's Euphues his Censure to Philautus (1587). The two major works which lie behind Shakespeare's medieval sources are the Ephemeris Belli Troiani of Dictys the Cretan ...
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 | |