Shakespeare's Tragedies Reviewed: A Spectator's Role

224 Pages·2015·7.75 MB·English

by  Richmond, Hugh Macrae, Shakespeare, William

Shakespeare’s Tragedies Reviewedexplores how the recognition of
spectator interests by the playwright has determined the detailed
character of Shakespeare tragedies. Utilizing Shakespeare’s
European models and contemporaries, including Cinthio and Lope
R
de Vega, and following forms such as Aristotle’s second, more
I
popular style of tragedy (a double ending of punishment for the evil C
H
and honor for the good), Hugh Macrae Richmond elicits radical revi- Shakespeare’s
M
sion of traditional interpretations of the scripts. The analysis includes
O
a major shift in emphasis from conventionally tragic concerns to a
N
more varied blend of tones, characterizations, and situations,
Tragedies
D
designed to hold spectator interest rather than to meet neoclassical
standards of coherence, focus, and progression. This reinterpreta-
tion also bears on modern staging and directorial emphasis, chal-
Reviewed
lenging the relevance of traditional norms of tragedy to production
S
of Renaissance drama. The stress shifts to plays’ counter-movements
h
to tragic tones, and to scripts’ contrasting positive factors to com-
a
mon downbeat interpretations—such as the role of humor in King k
Learand the significance of residual leadership in the tragedies as e
seen in the roles of Malcolm, Edgar, Cassio, and Octavius, as well s
p
as the broader progressions in such continuities as those within
e
Shakespeare’s Roman world from Julius Caesarand Antony and
a
Cleopatrato Cymbeline. It becomes apparent that the authority of r
the spectator in such Shakespearean titles as What You Willand As e
’
You Like Itmay bear meaningfully on interpretation of more plays s

than just the comedies. T
r
Hugh Macrae Richmondis Professor of English Emeritus at the a
g
University of California, Berkeley. He earned a B.A. from Cambridge
e
University and a D.Phil. from Oxford University, as well as diplo-
d
mas in language from Florence and Munich. He has received many
i
e
awards for his scholarship and teaching. His numerous books
s
include: Shakespeare’s Political Plays, Shakespeare’s Sexual
R
Comedy, and editions of Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry VIII. Dr.
Richmond has also compiled critical bibliographies: Shakespeare e
v
and the Renaissance Stageto 1616: Shakespearean Stage History
i
1616 to 1998and Shakespeare’s Theatre: A Dictionary of His Stage e
w
Context. He has created two websites: http://shakespearestaging.
berkeley.edu/ and http://miltonrevealed.berkeley.edu/. e
d A Spectator’s Role
BY
P
e
te Hugh Macrae Richmond
r
L
a
n
g
P E T E R L A N G P U B L I S H I N G
WWW.PETERLANG.COM
Shakespeare’s Tragedies Reviewedexplores how the recognition of
spectator interests by the playwright has determined the detailed
character of Shakespeare tragedies. Utilizing Shakespeare’s
European models and contemporaries, including Cinthio and Lope
R
de Vega, and following forms such as Aristotle’s second, more
I
popular style of tragedy (a double ending of punishment for the evil C
H
and honor for the good), Hugh Macrae Richmond elicits radical revi- Shakespeare’s
M
sion of traditional interpretations of the scripts. The analysis includes
a major shift in emphasis from conventionally tragic concerns to a O
N
more varied blend of tones, characterizations, and situations,
Tragedies
D
designed to hold spectator interest rather than to meet neoclassical
standards of coherence, focus, and progression. This reinterpreta-
tion also bears on modern staging and directorial emphasis, chal-
Reviewed
lenging the relevance of traditional norms of tragedy to production
S
of Renaissance drama. The stress shifts to plays’ counter-movements
h
to tragic tones, and to scripts’ contrasting positive factors to com-
a
mon downbeat interpretations—such as the role of humor in King k
Learand the significance of residual leadership in the tragedies as e
seen in the roles of Malcolm, Edgar, Cassio, and Octavius, as well s
p
as the broader progressions in such continuities as those within
e
Shakespeare’s Roman world from Julius Caesarand Antony and
a
Cleopatrato Cymbeline. It becomes apparent that the authority of r
the spectator in such Shakespearean titles as What You Willand As e
’
You Like Itmay bear meaningfully on interpretation of more plays s

than just the comedies. T
r
Hugh Macrae Richmondis Professor of English Emeritus at the a
g
University of California, Berkeley. He earned a B.A. from Cambridge
e
University and a D.Phil. from Oxford University, as well as diplo-
d
mas in language from Florence and Munich. He has received many
i
e
awards for his scholarship and teaching. His numerous books
s
include: Shakespeare’s Political Plays, Shakespeare’s Sexual
R
Comedy, and editions of Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry VIII. Dr.
Richmond has also compiled critical bibliographies: Shakespeare e
v
and the Renaissance Stageto 1616: Shakespearean Stage History
i
1616 to 1998and Shakespeare’s Theatre: A Dictionary of His Stage e
w
Context. He has created two websites: http://shakespearestaging.
berkeley.edu/ and http://miltonrevealed.berkeley.edu/. e
d A Spectator’s Role
BY
P
e
te Hugh Macrae Richmond
r
L
a
n
g
P E T E R L A N G P U B L I S H I N G
WWW.PETERLANG.COM
Shakespeare’s
Tragedies
Reviewed
Studies in Shakespeare

Alan Powers
General Editor

Vol. 22

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Hugh Macrae Richmond

Shakespeare’s
Tragedies
Reviewed

A Spectator’s Role

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Richmond, Hugh Macrae.
Shakespeare’s tragedies reviewed: a spectator’s role / Hugh Macrae Richmond.
pages cm. — (Studies in Shakespeare; vol. 22)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Tragedies. 2. Theater audiences. I. Title.
PR2983.R53 822.3’3—dc23 2014043812
ISBN 978-1-4331-2919-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4539-1480-9 (e-book)
ISSN 1067-0823

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

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Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
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For Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone and the whole Company
of the California Shakespeare Theatre, in celebration of their
many entrancing interactions with innumerable
happy spectators.

“If you give me the lifelike, I care nothing for theory. On the contrary, its inflexibility
wearies me and I have observed that those who devote themselves to concentrating on
art fail to seize upon the natural.”
—Emperor Diocletian in Lo fingido verdadero by Lope de Vega