Shakespeare and Tragedy - 9780367708160

Taylor & Francis

Shakespeare and TragedyAuthor(s): John Bayley\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9780367708160, 978-0367708160\nSynopsis\nEvery generation develops its own approach to tragedy, attitudes successively influenced by such classic works as A. C. Bradleys Shakespearean Tragedy and the studies in interpretation by G. Wilson Knight. A comprehensive new book on the subject by an author of the same calibre was long overdue.\n\nIn his book, originally published in 1981, John Bayley discusses the Roman plays, Troilus and Cressida and Timon of Athens as well as the four major tragedies. He shows how Shakespeares most successful tragic effects hinge on an opposition between the discourses of character and form, role and context. For example, in Lear the dramatis personae act in the dramatic world of tragedy which demands universality and high rhetoric of them. Yet they are human and have their being in the prosaic world of domestic.