Shakespeare S Suicides

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.

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.

The subjects of this book are the subjects whose subjects are themselves. Narcissus so himself himself forsook, And died to kiss his shadow in the brook. In accusing the introspective Adonis of narcissistic self-absorption, Shakespeare's Venus employs a geminative construction - 'himself himself' - that provides a keynote for this study of Renaissance reflexive subjectivity. Through close analysis of a number of Shakespearean texts - including Venus and Adonis, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Othello - his book illustrates how radical self-reflection is expressed on the Renaissance page and stage, and how representations of the two seemingly extreme figures of the narcissist and self-slaughterer are indicative of early-modern attitudes to introspection. Encompassing a broad range of philosophical, theological, poetic, and dramatic texts, this study examines period descriptions of the early-modern subject characterised by the rhetoric of reciprocation and reflection. The narcissist and the self-slaughter provide models of dialogic but self-destructive identity where private interiority is articulated in terms of self-response, but where this geminative isolation is understood as self-defeating, both selfish and suicidal. The study includes work on Renaissance revisions of Ovid, classical attitudes to suicide, the rhetoric of friendship literature, discussion of early-modern optic theory, and an extended discussion of narcissism in the epyllia tradition. Sustained textual analysis offers new readings of major Shakespearean texts, allowing familiar works of literature to be seen from the unusual and anti-social perspectives of their narcissistic and suicidal protagonists.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Textual Note -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1 Knitting the Cord: Titus Andronicus -- 2 Happy Daggers: Romeo and Juliet -- 3 Roman Fools: Julius Caesar -- 4 Solid Flesh: Hamlet -- 5 Before We Go: Othello -- 6 Promised Ends: King Lear -- 7 Trying the Last: Macbeth -- 8 Well Done: Antony and Cleopatra -- Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Index

“Much like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, M. L. Rio’s sparkling debut is a richly layered story of love, friendship, and obsession...will keep you riveted through its final, electrifying moments.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest "Nerdily (and winningly) in love with Shakespeare...Readable, smart.” —New York Times Book Review On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it. A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras. But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent. If We Were Villains was named one of Bustle's Best Thriller Novels of the Year, and Mystery Scene says, "A well-written and gripping ode to the stage...A fascinating, unorthodox take on rivalry, friendship, and truth."