Shakespeare and the history of soliloquies / / James Hirsh

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910957338003321
• Autore: Hirsh James E. <1946->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Madison, N.J., : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, c2003
• ISBN: 0-8386-4437-6
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (470 p.)
• Disciplina: 809.2/45
• Soggetti: Soliloquy; Speech in literature; English drama - History and criticism
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 435-465) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: The representation of thought and the representation of speech -- From antiquity to the middle of the sixteenth century -- The late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century -- Shakespeare's soliloquies : the representation of speech -- Shakespeare's soliloquies : audience address and self-address -- "To be, or not to be" -- From the late seventeenth century to the twentieth century -- Shakespeare's soliloquies transformed -- "The celebrated soliloquy".
• Sommario/riassunto: Provides 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.