Deadly Thought: Hamlet and the Human SoulThe human soul is for pre-modern philosophers the cause of both thinking and life. This double aspect of the soul, which makes man a rational animal, expresses itself above all in human action. Deadly Thought: 'Hamlet' and the Human Soul traces Hamlet's famous inability to act to his inability to hold together these twin aspects of the soul. Combining careful attention to detail and interpretive breadth, noted scholar Jan H. Blits deftly illustrates how Hamlet collapses life into thought, and moral action into stage acting, and ultimately comes to see his own life as a stage play. Hamlet, the book demonstrates, epitomizes the intellectualism of the Renaissance and the modern age it began, and so becomes tragedy's first self-conscious protagonist, signaling the end of ancient tragedy. Erudite, innovative, and lively, Deadly Thought is a ground-breaking contribution that will appeal to Shakespeare scholars, political theorists, historians of philosophy, literary theorists and anyone interested in a truly fresh interpretation of this classic work. |
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Page ix
... Hamlet to begin by asking ( if not always answering ) the assum- edly disarming question , Why another book on Hamlet ... Old Historicism to New Historicism , from New Criticism to Postmodernism . It is not surprising that before long all ...
... Hamlet to begin by asking ( if not always answering ) the assum- edly disarming question , Why another book on Hamlet ... Old Historicism to New Historicism , from New Criticism to Postmodernism . It is not surprising that before long all ...
Page 3
... Hamlet's Denmark is marked by the ongoing rediscovery of classical or neoclassical antiquity on the one hand and the ... old Hamlet now seems to be merely a memory : A was a man , take him for all in all , I shall not look upon his like ...
... Hamlet's Denmark is marked by the ongoing rediscovery of classical or neoclassical antiquity on the one hand and the ... old Hamlet now seems to be merely a memory : A was a man , take him for all in all , I shall not look upon his like ...
Page 7
... Hamlet chooses acting . If outward action dis- appears into inward virtue , it also both disappears into and reap ... old Hamlet's armor and face in battle ( 1.1.63–66 ) , Ophelia's calling Hamlet a " soldier " ( 3.1.153 ) , and ...
... Hamlet chooses acting . If outward action dis- appears into inward virtue , it also both disappears into and reap ... old Hamlet's armor and face in battle ( 1.1.63–66 ) , Ophelia's calling Hamlet a " soldier " ( 3.1.153 ) , and ...
Page 8
... old Hamlet ( 1.1.87 ; 1.2.25 ; also 1.2.187 ; 3.4.53–63 ) , no living Dane is ever called valiant , courageous ... Hamlet contains a great deal of oratory , the only example of political oratory is Claudius's opening speech . In it , the ...
... old Hamlet ( 1.1.87 ; 1.2.25 ; also 1.2.187 ; 3.4.53–63 ) , no living Dane is ever called valiant , courageous ... Hamlet contains a great deal of oratory , the only example of political oratory is Claudius's opening speech . In it , the ...
Page 12
Hamlet and the Human Soul Jan H. Blits. Speech is not only inseparable from , but indeed made up of , life . A young maid's mind ( " wits " ) can be as " mortal " as an old man's " life " ( 4.5.159-60 ) . Because it is the single source ...
Hamlet and the Human Soul Jan H. Blits. Speech is not only inseparable from , but indeed made up of , life . A young maid's mind ( " wits " ) can be as " mortal " as an old man's " life " ( 4.5.159-60 ) . Because it is the single source ...
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Common terms and phrases
accuses action actors answer appearance Aristotle asks Barnardo birth body cause Christian Cicero Clau Claudius Claudius's conscience corpse Dane Danish dead death deed Denmark describes despite Diogenes Laertius dius double emphasizes explicitly father fear final Fortinbras Fortinbras's fortune Gertrude Gertrude's Ghost God's Gonzago grave Grave-digger Grave-digger's guilt Hamlet says Hamlet seems hath hear heaven Hecuba hendiadys Horatio imitation incest Jephthah kill King Hamlet King's Laertes Laertes's letter lines lonius lord man's Marcellus marriage means mentions metaphor moral mother murder nature never noble old Hamlet once one's Ophelia Osric play play's Player King Player Queen Plutarch political Polonius Polonius's praise question Quintilian reason refers revenge rhetoric Rosencrantz and Guildenstern royal scene sense Shakespeare silent soliloquy soul speaks speech Stoic Stoicism suggests tell theatrical thee thing thou thought tion tragedy turns twice virtue vows warning words