Shakespeare and the History of SoliloquiesFairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 2003 - 470 pages 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. |
Contents
| 9 | |
| 13 | |
The Representation of Thought and the Representation of Speech | 35 |
From Antiquity to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century | 62 |
The Late Sixteenth Century and Early Seventeenth Century | 84 |
Shakespeares Soliloquies The Representation of Speech | 119 |
SHOW ME THY THOUGHT | 174 |
Shakespeares Soliloquies Audience Address and SelfAddress | 199 |
7 To be or not to be | 231 |
From the Late Seventeenth Century to the Twentieth Century | 278 |
Shakespeares Soliloquies Transformed | 325 |
10 The Celebrated Soliloquy | 370 |
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION | 435 |
| 454 | |
| 466 | |
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Common terms and phrases
acters action actor addressed speech addressed to playgoers addresses playgoers apostrophe audience address Betterton boy actor chapter char character's characters onstage Claudius clearly Colley Cibber conventions governing soliloquies Davenant Davenant's demonstrates direct access dominant convention dramatic context dramatists earlier eavesdropping eavesdropping episodes enemy evidence explicit explicitly expresses father feigned soliloquy genuine soliloquy gives voice guarded in asides Hamlet heard hearing human Iago imagine incongruities innermost thoughts interior monologue kinds of soliloquies King King Lear late seventeenth century later liloquies Macbeth Menaechmus mind offstage Ophelia oquies Othello outward behavior overheard soliloquies passage performed playgoers Polonius post-Renaissance present pretends quies Renaissance Renaissance drama Renaissance playgoers representation Richard Romeo says scene self-addressed speech Shake Shakespeare's plays Shakespeare's soliloquies Shakespeare's theater situation solilo soliloquies and asides soliloquies in Shakespeare's soliloquies represented speech soliloquy guarded speaker speare's theatrical Thomas Betterton thou tion Troilus and Cressida University Press unspoken thoughts words spoken