Shakespeare Minus 'Theory' by McAlindon Tom;

Author:McAlindon, Tom;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

A point of major significance not noticed by Radical Tragedy is that fortitude and endurance in Lear, as in Shakespeare’s thought generally, is intimately connected with loyalty. Constancy (so important in the characterisation of Henry V) is Shakespeare’s comprehensive ethical and psychological ideal, and it implies truth both to self and to others in times of change and misfortune. In Stoic tradition, constancy, which subsumes fortitude, was the supreme virtue (Lipsius’s De Constantia, 1594, was the major neo-Stoic text of the Renaissance). But Shakespeare’s notion of constancy as twofold is a reflection of his conception of identity as relational:

I cannot be

Mine own, nor anything to any, if

I be not thine. To this I am most constant,

Though destiny say no.

(Winter’s Tale, 4.4.43–6)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.