"Resolution and the Briefest End" Suicide in Shakespeare's Tragedies

Author: Ra'ed AL-Qassas
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-04-05
Genre: Suicide in literature
ISBN: 9781453896549

Suicide is fundamental when it comes to characters reaching a state of immortality in Shakespeare's tragedies, and in Resolution and the Briefest End: Suicide in Shakespeare's Tragedies, Ra'ed AL-Qassas studies this theory in great detail. Dedicated to sparking a renewed interest in these plays, and resuscitating a particular tragedy that has been neglected for many years, namely Timon of Athens, he focuses on the psychology of the Shakespearean hero, which brings into play a modern appreciation of the Bard's works. Imprisoned behind university walls, Christopher Marlowe's works have consequently faded away, while Shakespeare's plays are very much alive because of their suicidal content, a component that has always intrigued and fascinated audiences throughout the ages. What makes this book such an interesting read is that the author has detected three patterns of suicide in Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Timon of Athens, Othello, and Julius Caesar, which he classifies as nihilistic, emotional, and redemptive. This thought provoking study presents a new and highly original way of looking at Shakespeare's tragedies. Unique, informative, and worthy of note, this book is both educational and a great pleasure to read.

Shakespeare’s Suicides

Shakespeare’s Suicides
Author: Marlena Tronicke
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2017-11-22
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1351213172

Shakespeare’s Suicides: Dead Bodies That Matter is the first study in Shakespeare criticism to examine the entirety of Shakespeare’s dramatic suicides. It addresses all plays featuring suicides and near-suicides in chronological order from Titus Andronicus to Antony and Cleopatra, thus establishing that suicide becomes increasingly pronounced as a vital means of dramatic characterisation. In particular, the book approaches suicide as a gendered phenomenon. By taking into account parameters such as onstage versus offstage deaths, suicide speeches or the explicit denial of final words, as well as settings and weapons, the study scrutinises the ways in which Shakespeare appropriates the convention of suicide and subverts traditional notions of masculine versus feminine deaths. It shows to what extent a gendered approach towards suicide opens up a more nuanced understanding of the correlation between gender and Shakespeare’s genres and how, eventually, through their dramatisation of suicide the tragedies query normative gender discourse.

The Heroic Idiom of Shakespearean Tragedy

The Heroic Idiom of Shakespearean Tragedy
Author: James C. Bulman
Publisher: University of Delaware Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 1985
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780874132717

Shakespeare's idiom is an aggregate of archaic modes of speech and codes of conduct. This book attempts to make that idiom more accessible and, in the process, to illuminate the significance of heroic concepts to a study of Shakespeare's tragedies and histories.

Shakespeare's Tragic Sequence

Shakespeare's Tragic Sequence
Author: Kenneth Muir
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2013-10-11
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1136568603

First published in 1972. The emphasis of this book is that each of Shakespeare's tragedies demanded its own individual form and that although certain themes run through most of the tragedies, nearly all critics refrain from the attempt to apply external rules to them. The plays are almost always concerned with one person; they end with the death of the hero; the suffering and calamity that befall him are exceptional; and the tragedies include the medieval idea of the reversal of fortune.

The Sources of Shakespeare's Plays

The Sources of Shakespeare's Plays
Author: Kenneth Muir
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2014-04-04
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1317833414

First published in 1977. This book ascertains what sources Shakespeare used for the plots of his plays and discusses the use he made of them; and secondly illustrates how his general reading is woven into the texture of his work. Few Elizabethan dramatists took such pains as Shakespeare in the collection of source-material. Frequently the sources were apparently incompatible, but Shakespeare's ability to combine a chronicle play, one or two prose chronicles, two poems and a pastoral romance without any sense of incongruity, was masterly. The plays are examined in approximately chronological order and Shakespeare's developing skill becomes evident.

Once More Unto the Speech, Dear Friends: The tragedies

Once More Unto the Speech, Dear Friends: The tragedies
Author: William Shakespeare
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2006
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9781557836571

(Applause Books). There has been a great change in the last twenty years to actor auditions, which now require the demonstration of enormous flexibility. The actor is often expected to show more range than ever before, and often several shorter audition speeches are asked for instead of one or two longer ones. To stay at the top of his or her game, the Shakespearean actor needs more knowledge of what makes the play tick, especially since the early plays demand a different style from the later ones. Each genre (comedy, history, tragedy) has different requirements. No current monologue book deals directly with the bulk of these concerns. One More unto the Speech, Dear Friends now fills that gap. This three volume set will help actors discover the extra details of humanity that the original folio texts automatically offer. Of Shakespeare's 37 plays, only Pericles is not included. In the trilogy of books there are over 900 separate audition possibilities. This represents about 600 more monologues than are available in any other series. There are four parts to each speech: * A background giving context and approximate timing; * A modern text version; * The original folio version; * Commentary to explain the differences between the two texts including full discussion of the devices peculiar to that speech's genre, the age and gender of the character, and more.

Service and Dependency in Shakespeare's Plays

Service and Dependency in Shakespeare's Plays
Author: Judith Weil
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2005-06-09
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1139444573

This is an unusual study of the nature of service and other types of dependency and patronage in Shakespeare's drama. By considering the close associations of service with childhood or youth, marriage and friendship, Judith Weil sheds light on social practice and dramatic action. Approached as dynamic explorations of a familiar custom, the plays are shown to demonstrate a surprising consciousness of obligations, and a fascination with how dependants actively change each other. They help us understand why early modern people may have found service both frightening and enabling. Attentive to a range of historical sources, and social and cultural issues, Weil also emphasises the linguistic ambiguities created by service relationships, and their rich potential for interpretation on the stage. The book includes close readings of dramatic sequences in twelve plays, including Hamlet, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew and King Lear.