1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910795878003321

Autore

Van Oort Richard

Titolo

Shakespeare's Mad Men : A Crisis of Authority / / Richard van Oort

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Stanford, California : , : Stanford University Press, , [2023]

©2023

ISBN

1-5036-3358-6

Edizione

[First edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (305 pages)

Collana

Square One

Disciplina

822.33

Soggetti

Characters and characteristics in literature

English drama - 17th century - History and criticism

Ethics in literature

Measure for measure (Shakespeare, William)

Mentally ill in literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- 1 The King’s Last Potlatch -- 2 The Judge, the Duke, His Wife, and Her Lover -- Conclusion -- Afterword -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

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.