Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Theatre History (3)
- Gender and Sexuality (2)
- Other Theatre and Performance Studies (2)
- Philosophy (2)
- Social and Behavioral Sciences (2)
-
- Sociology (2)
- Biblical Studies (1)
- Christianity (1)
- Family, Life Course, and Society (1)
- History of Religions of Western Origin (1)
- Literature in English, North America (1)
- Other Philosophy (1)
- Other Religion (1)
- Playwriting (1)
- Religion (1)
- Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion (1)
- Rhetoric and Composition (1)
- Keyword
-
- Shakespeare's plays (2)
- William Shakespeare (2)
- Antitheatricality (1)
- Bacchanalia (1)
- Being (1)
-
- Clothing (1)
- Coriolanus (1)
- Early Modern literature (1)
- Edmund Spenser (1)
- Emmanuel Levinas (1)
- Essence (1)
- Gender (1)
- Gynophobia (1)
- Identity (1)
- Incest (1)
- Intersubjectivity (1)
- Literary criticism (1)
- Masculinity (1)
- Men (1)
- Morality (1)
- Queen Elizabeth I (1)
- Rationality (1)
- Restraint (1)
- Self (1)
- Sex (1)
- Simile (1)
- Stephen Gosson (1)
- The Faerie Queene (1)
- The Schoole of Abuse (1)
- The Tragedy of King Lear (1)
Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory
Sweet Fooling: Ethical Humor In King Lear And Levinas, Kent R. Lehnhof
Sweet Fooling: Ethical Humor In King Lear And Levinas, Kent R. Lehnhof
English Faculty Articles and Research
"In recent years, scholars have increasingly put the works of William Shakespeare (1564-1623) in dialogue with the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas (1905-1995)... The majority of these Shakespearean references are to Hamlet and Macbeth, but contemporary critics working in the vein of Levinas have tended to favor King Lear. No Shakespearean play has been subjected to Levinasian analysis more fully or more frequently.5 This critical proclivity is not unwarranted, for Shakespeare's tragic play and Levinas's ethical writings tell the same basic story: that of the egoist who heedlessly pursues his own interests until he is until he …
Twinship And Marriage In The Comedy Of Errors, Kent R. Lehnhof
Twinship And Marriage In The Comedy Of Errors, Kent R. Lehnhof
English Faculty Articles and Research
This article proposes that Shakespeare uses twinship and marriage in The Comedy of Errors to reflect on the importance of individuality and interrelation in the formation of identity. Specifically, this article shows how The Comedy of Errors sets the twin relation against the marital relation, ultimately implying that marriage—imperfect, everyday marriage—has as much subjective impact as the extraordinary bond between identical twins. As amazing as it might be to see two persons sharing "one face, one voice, one habit," The Comedy of Errors suggests that the twin relation does not surpass in significance the equally marvelous relation whereby husband and …
Kinship And Twinship In Jacob And Esau, Kent R. Lehnhof
Kinship And Twinship In Jacob And Esau, Kent R. Lehnhof
English Faculty Articles and Research
"The implications of these early stage directions are upheld and amplified elsewhere in the play. In what follows, I demonstrate this to be the case by reviewing some of the ways the interlude seeks to justify Jacob’s usurpation, most interestingly in its systematic and strategic deployment of kinship ties and familial terms. After explaining how the play leverages family relations to elevate Jacob and overthrow Esau, I concentrate on one family relation in particular: namely, the complicated bond between twin brothers. As I will make clear, the interlude’s treatment of twinship raises pressing questions about the way wealth, affection, and …
Antitheatricality And Irrationality: An Alternative View, Kent Lehnhof
Antitheatricality And Irrationality: An Alternative View, Kent Lehnhof
English Faculty Articles and Research
"Over the last three decades, antitheatrical authors like Stephen Gosson, Phillip Stubbes, and William Prynne have become increasingly visible in the literary and cultural studies of the early modern period. Even so, the tendency has been to treat these authors as ideological extremists: reactionary hacks whose opposition to stage plays originates in outrageous ideas of the self, impossible notions of right and wrong, and bizarre beliefs about humanity’s susceptibility to external suggestion. This characterization can be traced back to several of the pioneering studies in the field, including Jonas Barish’s The Antitheatrical Prejudice (1985) and Laura Levine’s Men in Women’s …
Ships That Do Not Sail: Antinauticalism, Antitheatricalism, And Irrationality In Stephen Gosson, Kent Lehnhof
Ships That Do Not Sail: Antinauticalism, Antitheatricalism, And Irrationality In Stephen Gosson, Kent Lehnhof
English Faculty Articles and Research
Stephen Gosson's similes, particularly in 1579's The Schoole of Abuse, commend affective restraint, value stasis over motion, and idealize immobility. Combined with his Platonic mistrust of emotion and his dislike of stage plays for the emotional response they provoke, his criticisms can be seen to express a desire to slow cultural change and social mobility. The effect of this in The Schoole of Abuse is that it deprives objects and agents of their essential identify by removing the action that best defines them, implying that to become our best selves, we must give up the very qualities that define us.
Relation And Responsibility: A Levinasian Reading Of King Lear, Kent Lehnhof
Relation And Responsibility: A Levinasian Reading Of King Lear, Kent Lehnhof
English Faculty Articles and Research
Emmanuel Levinas’s ideas about intersubjectivity can change our reading of Shakespeare by putting philosophical pressure on Shakespeare’s dramatization of human relatedness in The Tragedy of King Lear (1607–8). Even though Levinas does not discuss Lear at length in any of his published work, this difficult philosopher and this difficult play have much to say to one another. Levinas can be fruitfully brought to bear on Shakespeare’s great tragedy, generating fresh and productive ideas about its most pivotal moments, its most perplexing questions, and its most popular interpretations. In addition, Levinas can provide a useful frame for discussing the nature of …
Acting, Integrity, And Gender In Coriolanus, Kent Lehnhof
Acting, Integrity, And Gender In Coriolanus, Kent Lehnhof
English Faculty Articles and Research
Shakespeare's Coriolanus... anticipates and corroborates modern-day analyses emphasizing the sociopolitical dimensions and determinants of antitheatrical discourse. In the present essay, I would like to shift my focus from questions of class/status to questions of sex/gender, endeavoring to trace the links between Coriolanus’s antiperformative zeal and his ultra-masculine identity. For though it is true that Coriolanus opposes the dissimulation of others on political grounds (i.e., it creates social confusion), what causes him to reject play-acting in his own person is the sexualized fear that it will unman him (i.e., turn him into a squeaking virgin or crying boy). In this manner, …
Incest And Empire In The Faerie Queene, Kent Lehnhof
Incest And Empire In The Faerie Queene, Kent Lehnhof
English Faculty Articles and Research
"When considered in the context of Elizabeth's effort to silence all discussion of incest, Edmund Spenser's courtly epic aiming to cultivate favor with the monarch looks like a disastrous miscalculation, for incest appears throughout The Faerie Queene. Indeed, incest sits at the center (both literally and figuratively) of the Book of Chastity, the very book wherein Spenser encourages Elizabeth 'in mirrours more then one her selfe to see.' In the present essay, I investigate the apparently illogical and impolitic prominence afforded to incest in book three of The Faerie Queene, ultimately arguing that the imperialist logic underpinning the epic is …