Shakespeare and the Grammar of Forgiveness

Sarah Beckwith

Description

Shakespeare lived at a time when England was undergoing the revolution in ritual theory and practice we know as the English Reformation. With it came an unprecedented transformation in the language of religious life. Whereas priests had once acted as mediators between God and men through sacramental rites, Reformed theology declared the priesthood of all believers. What ensued was not the tidy replacement of one doctrine by another but a long and messy conversation about the conventions of religious life and practice. In this brilliant and strikingly original book, Sarah Beckwith traces the fortunes of this conversation in Shakespeare's theater. Beckwith focuses on the sacrament of penance, which in the Middle Ages stood as the very basis of Christian community and human relations. With the elimination of this sacrament, the words of penance and repentance-"confess," "forgive," "absolve" -no longer meant (no longer could mean) what they once did. In tracing the changing speech patterns of confession and absolution, both in Shakespeare's work and Elizabethan and Jacobean culture more broadly, Beckwith reveals Shakespeare's profound understanding of the importance of language as the fragile basis of our relations with others. In particular, she shows that the post-tragic plays, especially Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest, are explorations of the new regimes and communities of forgiveness. Drawing on the work of J. L. Austin, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Stanley Cavell, Beckwith enables us to see these plays in an entirely new light, skillfully guiding us through some of the deepest questions that Shakespeare poses to his audiences.

Sujets

• Idioma inglés
• History of religions
• English
• Anglais

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 08 avril 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801460623
• Langue: English

Extrait

Shakespeare and the Grammar of Forgiveness

Shakespeare and the Grammar of Forgiveness

Sarah Beckwith

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2011 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2011 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Beckwith, Sarah, 1959–  Shakespeare and the grammar of forgiveness / Sarah Beckwith.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801449789 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Tragicomedies. 2. Forgiveness in literature. 3. Penance in literature. I. Title.  PR2981.5.B43 2011  822.3'3—dc22 2010047912

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www. cornellpress.cornell.edu.

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For Bart

There is a saying that to understand is to forgive but that is an error, so Papa used to say. You must forgive in order to understand. Until you forgive you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding. Her father had said this more than once, in sermons, with appropriate texts, but the real text was Jack, and those to whom he spoke were himself and the row of Boughtons in the front pew, and then, of course, the congregation. If you forgive, he would say, you may indeed not understand, but you will be ready to understand, and that is the posture of grace.  Marilynne Robinson,Home

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Contents

Introduction: Promising, Forgiving

Part One: Penance to Repentance

1. The Mind’s Retreat from the Face

2. Rites of Forgiveness

Part Two: Promising

3. Repairs in the Dark:Measure for Measureand the End of Comedy

Part Three: Forgiving

4. The Recovery of Voice in Shakespeare’sPericles

5. Acknowledgment and Confession inCymbeline

6. Shakespeare’s Resurrections:The Winter’s Tale

7. Making Good inThe Tempest

ix xiii

1

15 34

59

85 104 127 147

v i i i C o n t e n t s

Notes Bibliography Index

173 203 219

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the actors and performers who have lent their bodies, souls, and minds to Shakespeare’s figures in the complex forms of the late romances I have seen while I was writing this book. Their readings and sense of accountability charted subtle and haunting paths into these rich and difficult plays. I thank my new friends and colleagues in theater studies whose dedication to theater is inspiring and humbling. Richard Fleming in his magical seminar on Wittgenstein’sPhilosophical Investigations,and Nancy Bauer, Tim Gould, and Sandra Laugier helped me to richer understandings of the work of J. L. Austin, Ludwig Wittgen stein, and Stanley Cavell, in their visits to the Ordinary Language Philoso phy Working Group I convened at Duke with Toril Moi in 2007–2009. An early version of chapter 3 appeared as “Medieval Penance, Refor mation Repentance andMeasure for Measure” inReading the Medieval in Early Modern England,edited by Gordon McMullan and David Matthews (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 193–204, and is reprinted with permission from Cambridge University Press. Chapter 6 appeared as