Shakespeare and the Ends of Comedy"This is a congenial, lucidly written work, the product of careful thought and attention to performance." --Shakespeare Bulletin "... Jensen has done a service by reminding readers of the variety and richness of the comedy and comic devices in Shakespeare's plays." --Choice "The ear that Jensen brings to the plays themselves results in close readings that are always insightful and stimulate new questions." --English Language Notes "Here is a genuinely readable and enjoyable book... humane, balanced, unpolemical, good humored, and fundamentally sane." --Charles R. Forker "... Jensen has produced a sensitive and eminently readable book that will no doubt figure prominently in future attempts to understand Shakespeare's comic practice." --Shakespeare Yearbook Jensen questions a persistent critical emphasis that finds the meanings of Shakespeare's comedies in their endings. Analyzing The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and Measure for Measure, he shows how much vitality is sacrificed when critics assume that "the end crowns the work." |
From inside the book
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... move them , through shared fun , to a point at which Bassanio , " the best deserv- ing a fair lady , " is called to mind . Thus the play's second scene does reflect the first , but not in a fashion that sustains an atmosphere of sadness ...
... move toward one another and draw , the scene both fizzles and explodes . Antonio's entrance issues in the series of manifestations that will define the play's close and its final atmosphere of revelations , recognitions , and miracle ...
... moves Orsino to emotionally indul- gent hints of mortality ( “ remember me ' ' ) , the irony of his injunction only reinforces the oxymoronic " sweet pangs " she experiences even as he speaks . When Orsino , asking for confirmation of ...
Contents
The Aggrandizement of Closure | 1 |
The Comic Pleasures | 22 |
three | 34 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown