Title Gender and performance in Shakespeare's problem comedies / David McCandless

Published Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana University Press, ©1997

Click on the following:
EBSCO eBooks

Copies

Description 1 online resource (viii, 205 pages) Series Drama and performance studies Drama and performance studies Contents 1. Introduction: All's Well That Ends Well -- Helena's Femininity: Subject vs. Object -- Bertram's Masculinity: Rite of Passage -- Drama of Difference: Old and New Tales Staging the Bed-Trick -- 2. Final Scenes: Unresolved Tension -- Measure for Measure -- The Duke as Ghostly Father -- Angelo's Sadism: Punishing Claudio -- Speechless Dialect: Isabella's (Lacking) Sexuality -- Angelo's Sadomasochistic Fantasy: Propositioning Isabella -- Isabella's Sadomasochism Gestic Staging -- The Duke's Sadomasochistic Spectacle -- Final Moments: "What Do You Think This Is?" -- 3. Troilus and Cressida The War as Empty Spectacle -- Troilus and Cressida: The Limits of Sexuality -- Seduction -- The Limits of Subjectivity Feminist Gestus -- Between Men: The Homoerotics of War Final Scenes Summary "Composed at a critical moment in English history, Shakespeare's "problem plays"--All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and Troilus and Cressida - dramatize a crisis in the sex-gender system. They register a male dread of emasculation and engulfment, a fear of female authority and sexuality. In these plays males identify desire for a female as dangerous and unmanly; females contend and confound traditional femininity. Male authority, even male ideas of the heroic, suffers in the face of a female's disruptive sexual power. By resisting comic closure, these plays leave uncontained the subversions of gender that comedies for the most part successfully hold in check." "David McCandless follows the drama of gender enacted in these plays. His approach weds a theoretically engaged textual analysis to the dynamics of performance. He adopts the perspective not of expert spectator but of practitioner, bringing directorial modes of inquiry to his analysis. While drawing upon the performance histories of the problem comedies, he exploits his own experience as a director in dramatizing and theorizing the enactment of gender. The book provides a unique and invigorating example of how performance criticism can illuminate these difficult, sometimes overlooked tragicomedies."--Jacket Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL English digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Print version record Subject Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Comedies. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. All's well that ends well. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Troilus and Cressida. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Measure for measure. SUBJECT Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 fast Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). All's well that ends well. ram Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). Troilus and Cressida. ram Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). Measure for measure. ram All's well that ends well (Shakespeare, William) fast Measure for measure (Shakespeare, William) fast Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare, William) fast Subject Feminism and literature -- England -- History -- 16th century Feminism and literature -- England -- History -- 17th century Man-woman relationships in literature. Sex role in literature. Comedy. comedy plays. LITERARY CRITICISM -- Shakespeare. DRAMA -- Shakespeare. Comedy Feminism and literature Humorous plays Man-woman relationships in literature Sex role in literature Sekseverschillen. All's well that ends well (Shakespeare) Measure for measure (Shakespeare) Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare) English. Languages & Literatures. English Literature. Féminisme et littérature -- Angleterre (GB) -- 16e siècle. Féminisme et littérature -- Angleterre (GB) -- 17e siècle. Relations hommes-femmes -- Dans la littérature. Rôle selon le sexe dans la littérature. England Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 97003934 ISBN 0585161666 9780585161662

  Permalink