附註:Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-203) and index.
"Th' Observ'd of All Observers": Reading Character in Theory and Practice -- Characterizing Shakespeare's Readers: Falstaff and the Motives of Character Criticism -- Earnng a Place in the Story: Ethos and Epideictic in Cymbeline -- "Not True, to Be True": Hyperbole and Judgment in Othello, King John, and The Winter's Tale -- "To See Feelingly": Vision, Voice, and Dramatic Illusion in King Lear -- "Who Is't Can Read a Woman?": Rhetoric and Gender in Venus and Adonis, Measure for Measure, and All's Well That Ends Well.
摘要:Although current theory has discredited the idea of a coherent, transcendent self, Shakespeare's characters still make themselves felt as a presence for readers and viewers alike. Confronting this paradox, Christy Desmet explores the role played by rhetoric in fashioning and representing Shakespearean character. She draws on classical and Renaissance texts, as well as on the work of such twentieth-century critics as Kenneth Burke and Paul de Man, bringing classical, Renaissance, and contemporary rhetoric into fruitful collision. Desmet redefines the nature of character by analyzing the function of character criticism and by developing a new perspective on Shakespearean character. She shows how rhetoric shapes character within the plays and the way characters are "read." She also examines the relationship between technique and theme by considering the connections between rhetorical representation and dramatic illusion and by discussing the relevance of rhetorical criticism to issues of gender. Works analyzed include Hamlet, Cymbeline, King John, Othello, The Winter's Tale, King Lear, Venus and Adonis, Measure for Measure, and All's Well That Ends Well.
