Allegorising Thought on the Shakespearean Stage - by Claire Guéron (Hardcover)

About the Book

Explores Shakespeare's use of allegory as a privileged tool for making visible the inner workings of his characters' minds

Book Synopsis

This book argues that Shakespeare turned staging problems into opportunities for complex characterization by mobilizing the semiotic potential of playhouse architecture, stage space, gestures, stage properties, performance style and audience participation. These features of production result in allegorical projections of the characters' thoughts, in a way that reflects early modern fascination with the hidden workings of the human mind.

From the Back Cover

Explores Shakespeare's use of allegory as a privileged tool for making visible the inner workings of his characters' minds This study argues that Shakespeare turned staging problems into opportunities for complex characterisation by mobilising the semiotic potential of playhouse architecture, stage space, gestures, stage properties, performance style and audience participation. These features of production result in allegorical projections of the characters' thoughts, in a way that reflects early modern fascination with the hidden workings of the human mind. Through new readings, Allegorising Thought on the Shakespearean Stage expands and revitalizes the concept of 'stage allegory' beyond its association with medieval morality plays. Claire Guéron is Senior Lecturer at the University of Burgundy (Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté) in Dijon, France. Her research areas are early modern stage semiotics, the ethics of spectatorship and Shakespearean detective novels.

Review Quotes

The grand - and realized - ambition of Allegorising Thought on the Shakespearean Stage is to ground allegory in the warp and weft of early modern theatrical practice. Distributed across the theatrical event, Shakespeare's mindful allegories are - in Claire Guéron's compelling account - thickened, not thinned, by expansion.--Paul Menzer, Mary Baldwin University

About the Author

Claire Guéron is Senior Lecturer at the University of Burgundy (Université de Bourgogne) in Dijon, France. Her research areas are early modern stage semiotics, the ethics of spectatorship and Shakespearean detective novels. Her recent publications include 'Figure and Figura in Henry V', in François Laroque (ed), William Shakespeare King Henry V, Paris: Ellipses, 2020, pp.65-80, 'Le double jeu de Nick Revill, détective Shakespearien', Textes et Contextes, vol. 14, no. 1, [online], June 16th, 2019. '"Never Shake thy Gory Locks at me" Objecting to Gesture in Macbeth', Interfaces: Texte, Image, Langage, vol.40, 2018. And 'Authorizing Laughter in The Duchess of Malfi', in Pascale Drouet and William C. Carroll (eds), Paris: Belin Education, 2018, pp. 204-19.