Monday, February 11, 2019
Essay on Narcissism and Metadrama in Richard II -- Richard II Richard
Narcissism and Metadrama in Richard II Over the populate thirty years, Shakespeare criticism has demonstrated a growing awareness of the self-reflexive or metadramatic elements in his works. Lionel Abels 1963 study, Metatheatre A New View of Dramatic Form, provided mayhap the first significant analysis of the ways in which Shakespeare thematizes theatricality, in the broadest perceive of the term, in his tragedies, comedies, and histories. In his discussion of Hamlet, he makes the observationperhaps a bit commonplace and obvious to us thirty years laterthat the famous play within a play is only the closely blatant example of self-conscious technique found throughout the disaster once we begin to look closely, we notice that nearly every central character acts at some moment like a playwright, employing a playwrights consciousness of drama to impose a genuine posture or attitude on another (46). Elsewhere in his book, Abel argues implicitly that Shakespeare, though he often us ed metadramatic techniques more in the interest of developing character than creating an event, the way later playwrights do, nevertheless calm plays which are theatre pieces about life seen as already theatricalized (60). In making such statements, Abel laid the groundwork for a number of posterior studies, from Thomas F. Van Laans Role-Playing in Shakespeare, which appeared in 1978, to Judd D. Huberts more recent Metatheatre The practice of Shakespeare. Critics following Abels lead have been peculiarly interested in Shakespeares second tetralogy. James L. Calderwood, for instance, reads the Henriad as Shakespeares reflection not only on a period of British history during which political authority, political truth,... ...l. Metatheatre. New York Hill and Wang, 1963. Calderwood, James L. Metadrama in Shakespeares Henriad. Berkeley U of California P, 1979. Dean, Leonard F. Richard II The State and the Image of the Theatre. PMLA 67 (1952) 211-18. Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory . Minneapolis U of Minnesota P, 1983. Glasser, Marvin. The Poet and the Royal Persona Lyrical Structures in Shakespeares Second Tetralogy. Modern Language Quarterly 50 (1989) 125-44. Hubert, Judd D. Metatheatre The Example of Shakespeare. Lincoln U of Nebraska P, 1991. Lacan, Jacques. Ecrits A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York Norton, 1977. Shakespeare, William. Richard II. Shakespeare The Complete Works. Ed. G. B. Harrison. San Diego Harcourt pas de deux Jovanovich, 1948. 430-67. Van Laan, Thomas F. Role-Playing in Shakespeare. Buffalo U of Toronto P, 1978.