Essay on Narcissism and Metadrama in Richard II -- Richard II Richard

Narcissism and Meta turn in Richard II Over the last thirty years, Shakespeare criticism has demonstrated a growing awareness of the self-reflexive or metadramatic elements in his works. Lionel Abels 1963 study, Metatheatre A New View of Dramatic Form, provided perhaps the first significant analysis of the ways in which Shakespeare thematizes theatricality, in the broadest sense of the term, in his tragedies, comedies, and histories. In his discussion of Hamlet, he makes the observationperhaps a bit commonplace and obvious to us thirty years laterthat the famous hearten within a play is only the most blatant example of self-conscious technique found throughout the tragedy once we begin to examine closely, we notice that nearly every important character acts at some moment like a playwright, employing a playwrights consciousness of drama to impose a certain posture or attitude on another (46). Elsewhere in his book, Abel argues implicitly that Shakespeare, though he often apply m etadramatic techniques more(prenominal) in the interest of developing character than creating an event, the way later playwrights do, nevertheless composed plays which are theatre pieces about life seen as already theatricalized (60). In making such statements, Abel laid the groundwork for a number of subsequent studies, from Thomas F. Van Laans Role-Playing in Shakespeare, which appeared in 1978, to Judd D. Huberts more recent Metatheatre The Example of Shakespeare. Critics following Abels lead have been especially interested in Shakespeares second tetralogy. James L. Calderwood, for instance, reads the Henriad as Shakespeares censure not only on a period of British history during which political authority, political truth,... ...l. Metatheatre. New York Hill and Wang, 1963. Calderwood, James L. Metadrama in Shakespeares Henriad. Berkeley U of California P, 1979. Dean, Leonard F. Richard II The State and the Image of the Theatre. PMLA 67 (1952) 211-18. Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory. Minneapolis U of Minnesota P, 1983. Glasser, Marvin. The Poet and the Royal Persona Lyrical Structures in Shakespeares Second Tetralogy. redbrick Language Quarterly 50 (1989) 125-44. Hubert, Judd D. Metatheatre The Example of Shakespeare. Lincoln U of Nebraska P, 1991. Lacan, Jacques. Ecrits A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York Norton, 1977. Shakespeare, William. Richard II. Shakespeare The Complete Works. Ed. G. B. Harrison. San Diego Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1948. 430-67. Van Laan, Thomas F. Role-Playing in Shakespeare. overawe U of Toronto P, 1978.