Shakespeare and the History of SoliloquiesProvides 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. |
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Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Representation of Speech | 35 |
From Antiquity to the Middle of the Sixteenth | 62 |
Copyright | |
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Shakespeare and the History of Soliloquies |
| Author | James E. Hirsh |
| Contributor | ProQuest (Firm) |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2003 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 25 Feb 2008 |
| ISBN | 0838639712, 9780838639719 |
| Length | 470 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |