Philosophy and the Puzzles of Hamlet

Philosophy and the Puzzles of Hamlet PDF Author: Leon Harold Craig
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1501317288
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Shakespeare's famous play, Hamlet, has been the subject of more scholarly analysis and criticism than any other work of literature in human history. For all of its generally acknowledged virtues, however, it has also been treated as problematic in a raft of ways. In Philosophy and the Puzzles of Hamlet, Leon Craig explains that the most oft-cited problems and criticisms are actually solvable puzzles. Through a close reading of the philosophical problems presented in Hamlet, Craig attempts to provide solutions to these puzzles. The posing of puzzles, some more conspicuous, others less so, is fundamental to Shakespeare's philosophical method and purpose. That is, he has crafted his plays, and Hamlet in particular, so as to stimulate philosophical activity in the "judicious" (as distinct from the "unskillful") readers. By virtue of showing what so many critics treat as faults or flaws are actually intended to be interpretive challenges, Craig aims to raise appreciation for the overall coherence of Hamlet: that there is more logical rigor to its plot and psychological plausibility to its characterizations than is generally granted, even by its professed admirers. Philosophy and the Puzzles of Hamlet endeavors to make clear why Hamlet, as a work of reason, is far better than is generally recognized, and proves its author to be, not simply the premier poet and playwright he is already universally acknowledged to be, but a philosopher in his own right.

Philosophy and the Puzzles of Hamlet

Philosophy and the Puzzles of Hamlet PDF Author: Leon Harold Craig
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1501317288
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 293

Get Book Here

Book Description
Shakespeare's famous play, Hamlet, has been the subject of more scholarly analysis and criticism than any other work of literature in human history. For all of its generally acknowledged virtues, however, it has also been treated as problematic in a raft of ways. In Philosophy and the Puzzles of Hamlet, Leon Craig explains that the most oft-cited problems and criticisms are actually solvable puzzles. Through a close reading of the philosophical problems presented in Hamlet, Craig attempts to provide solutions to these puzzles. The posing of puzzles, some more conspicuous, others less so, is fundamental to Shakespeare's philosophical method and purpose. That is, he has crafted his plays, and Hamlet in particular, so as to stimulate philosophical activity in the "judicious" (as distinct from the "unskillful") readers. By virtue of showing what so many critics treat as faults or flaws are actually intended to be interpretive challenges, Craig aims to raise appreciation for the overall coherence of Hamlet: that there is more logical rigor to its plot and psychological plausibility to its characterizations than is generally granted, even by its professed admirers. Philosophy and the Puzzles of Hamlet endeavors to make clear why Hamlet, as a work of reason, is far better than is generally recognized, and proves its author to be, not simply the premier poet and playwright he is already universally acknowledged to be, but a philosopher in his own right.

Philosophy in Hamlet

Philosophy in Hamlet PDF Author: Jasminka D. Marić
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788690080205
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description


Shakespeare, Christianity and Italian Paganism

Shakespeare, Christianity and Italian Paganism PDF Author: Eric Harber
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527561070
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 676

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Book Description
This book shows that, when Shakespeare wrote his plays, he responded to the political, religious and social conflicts in the Christianity of the day, giving those areas a new perspective through pagan (Italian and Greek) mythology. In particular, it offers a reading of The Winter’s Tale, which it has been said is “one of the most linguistically dense, emotionally demanding and spiritually rich of all the plays”. Productions as far afield as Mexico and Paris have brought Shakespeare’s plays up to date to enhance or challenge the lives of their communities. From South Africa to Gdansk, Shakespeare has been adapted to be read in schools. His plays have prompted a dialogue with many European scholars whom this book addresses.

The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Dance

The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Dance PDF Author: Lynsey McCulloch
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190873493
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 718

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Book Description
Shakespeare's texts have a long and close relationship with many different types of dance, from dance forms referenced in the plays to adaptations across many genres today. With contributions from experienced and emerging scholars, this handbook provides a concise reference on dance as both an integral feature of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century culture and as a means of translating Shakespearean text into movement - a process that raises questions of authorship and authority, cross-cultural communication, semantics, embodiment, and the relationship between word and image. Motivated by growing interest in movement, materiality, and the body, The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Dance is the first collection to examine the relationship between William Shakespeare - his life, works, and afterlife - and dance. In the handbook's first section - Shakespeare and Dance - authors consider dance within the context of early modern life and culture and investigate Shakespeare's use of dance forms within his writing. The latter half of the handbook - Shakespeare as Dance - explores the ways that choreographers have adapted Shakespeare's work. Chapters address everything from narrative ballet adaptations to dance in musicals, physical theater adaptations, and interpretations using non-Western dance forms such as Cambodian traditional dance or igal, an indigenous dance form from the southern Philippines. With a truly interdisciplinary approach, The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Dance provides an indispensable resource for considerations of dance and corporeality on Shakespeare's stage and the early modern era.

The Philosopher's English King

The Philosopher's English King PDF Author: Leon Harold Craig
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1580465315
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
This book on Shakespeare's Henriad studies the tetralogy as a work of political thought. Leon Harold Craig, author of two previous volumes on Shakespeare's political thought, argues that the four plays present Shakespeare's teaching on the problem of legitimacy, or who has the right to rule -- one of the perennial questions of political philosophy. Offering original interpretations of each of the plays, Craig discusses the demise of divine right in Richard II, political upheaval and disputed rule in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and the attempt to reestablish legitimacy on a new basis in Henry V. While focusing especially on the plays' various interpretive puzzles, Craig shows how the four plays constitute one narrative, culminating in the rule of England's most famous warrior king, Henry V, whose brilliant achievements were undone by ill fortune. Craig concludes with an epilogue on what might have been had Henry lived to consolidate his conquest of France and unify it with England under a single crown. Supported by a wealth of scholarship, both historical and critical, The Philosopher's English King makes a major contribution to the burgeoning scholarship on Shakespeare as a political thinker, providing further evidence for why the poet deserves to be recognized as a philosopher in his own right. Leon Harold Craig is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alberta.

Politics and Romance in Shakespeare’s Four Great Tragedies

Politics and Romance in Shakespeare’s Four Great Tragedies PDF Author: Kenneth Usongo
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443893323
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
This study of the political and romantic impulses of Shakespeare's tragic characters - including Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, and Iago, among others - discusses the overblown ambition of these characters as they embrace cunning and evil in order to acquire power and romance. The excessive ambition shown by these characters fuels action in the plays and significantly contributes to their downfall. In other words, the book interrogates, in a pluralist critical frame, the forces behind the quest for power and romance by Shakespeare's protagonists, and explores how these forces propel the.

The War Lover

The War Lover PDF Author: Leon Harold Craig
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 9780802079428
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
A new interpretation of Plato's Republic. Craig investigates why this dialogue, ostensibly about justice, offers Plato's fullest account of philosophy and philosophers, and why it is preoccupied with war.

The Magic Prism

The Magic Prism PDF Author: Howard Wettstein
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198036425
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
The late 20th century saw great movement in the philosophy of language, often critical of the fathers of the subject--Gottlieb Frege and Bertrand Russell--but sometimes supportive of (or even defensive about) the work of the fathers. Howard Wettstein's sympathies lie with the critics. But he says that they have often misconceived their critical project, treating it in ways that are technically focused and that miss the deeper implications of their revolutionary challenge. Wettstein argues that Wittgenstein--a figure with whom the critics of Frege and Russell are typically unsympathetic--laid the foundation for much of what is really revolutionary in this late 20th century movement. The subject itself should be of great interest, since philosophy of language has functioned as a kind of foundation for much of 20th century philosophy. But in fact it remains a subject for specialists, since the ideas are difficult and the mode of presentation is often fairly technical. In this book, Wettstein brings the non-specialist into the conversation (especially in early chapters); he also reconceives the debate in a way that avoids technical formulation. The Magic Prism is intended for professional philosophers, graduate students, and upper division undergraduates.

Stay, Illusion!

Stay, Illusion! PDF Author: Simon Critchley
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307950484
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
The figure of Hamlet haunts our culture like the Ghost haunts him. Arguably, no literary work, not even the Bible, is more familiar to us than Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Everyone knows at least six words from the play; often people know many more. Yet the play—Shakespeare’s longest—is more than “passing strange” and becomes deeply unfamiliar when considered closely. Reading Hamlet alongside other writers, philosophers, and psychoanalysts—Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, Freud, Lacan, Nietzsche, Melville, and Joyce—Simon Critchley and Jamieson Webster consider the political context and stakes of Shakespeare’s play, its relation to religion, the movement of desire, and the incapacity to love.

Sophie's World

Sophie's World PDF Author: Jostein Gaarder
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1466804270
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 599

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Book Description
A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.