A theater of envy : William Shakespeare

In this ground-breaking work, one of our foremost literary and cultural critics turns to the major figure in English literature, William Shakespeare, and proposes a dramatic new reading of nearly all his plays and poems. The key to A Theater of Envy is Girard's novel reinterpretation of "mimesis." For Girard, people desire objects not for their intrinsic value, but because they are desired by someone else – we mime or imitate their desires. This envy – or "mimetic desire" – he sees as one of the foundations of the human condition. Bringing such provocative and iconoclastic insights to bear on Shakespeare, Girard reveals the previously overlooked coherence of problem plays like Troilus and Cressida , and makes a convincing argument for elevating A Midsummer Night's Dream from the status of a chaotic comedy to a masterpiece. The book abounds with novel and provocative interpretations: Shakespeare becomes "a prophet of modern advertising," and the threat of nuclear disaster is read in the light of Hamlet . Most intriguing of all, perhaps, is a brief, but brilliant aside in which an entirely new perspective is brought to the chapter on Joyce's Ulysses in which Stephen Dedalus gives a lecture on Shakespeare. In Girard's view only Joyce, perhaps the greatest of twentieth-century novelists, comes close to understanding the greatest of Renaissance playwrights. Throughout this impressively sustained reading of Shakespeare, Girard's prose is sophisticated, but contemporary, and accessible to the general reader. The Author Proposes Dramatic New Interpretations Of Nearly All Of Shakespeare's Plays And Poems. Love Delights In Praises : Valentine And Proteus In The Two Gentlemen Of Verona -- Envy Of So Rich A Thing : Collatine And Tarquin In The Rape Of Lucrece -- The Course Of True Love : The Four Lovers In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- O Teach Me How You Look : Helena And Hermia In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- All Their Minds Transfigured : Genesis Of Myth In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- More Than Fancy's Images : The Craftsmen In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Something Of Great Constancy : Theseus And Hippolyta In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Love By Another's Eye : Mimetic Punning In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Love By Hearsay : Mimetic Strategies In Much Ado About Nothing -- Do You Love Him Because I Do! : The Pastoral Genre In As You Like It -- 'tis Not Her Glass, But You That Flatter Her : Self-love In As You Like It -- O, What A Deal Of Scorn Looks Beautiful : Self-love In Twelfth Night -- 'tis Not So Sweet Now As It Was Before : Orsino And Olivia In Twelfth Night -- A Woeful Cressid' 'mongst The Merry Greeks : The Love Affair In Troilus And Cressida. Lechery And War : The Subversion Of The Medieval Troilus And Cressida -- These Men's Looks : Power Games In Troilus And Cressida -- O Pandarus! : Troilus And Cressida And The Universal Go-between -- Pale And Bloodless Emulation : The Crisis Of Degree In Troilus And Cressida -- To You Your Father Should Be As A God : The Crisis Of Degree In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Confounding Contraries : The Crisis Of Degree In Timon Of Athens And Other Plays -- O Conspiracy! : Mimetic Seduction In Julius Caesar -- Domestic Fury And Fierce Civil Strife : Violent Polarization In Julius Caesar -- Great Rome Shall Suck Reviving Blood : The Founding Murder In Julius Caesar -- Let's Be Sacrificers But Not Butchers, Caius : Sacrifice In Julius Caesar -- Let's Carve Him As A Dish Fit For The Gods : Sacrificial Cycles In Julius Caesar -- A Universal Wolf And A Universal Prey : The Founding Murder In Troilus And Cressida. Sweet Puck! : Sacrificial Resolution In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- To Entrap The Wisest : Sacrificial Ambivalence In The Merchant Of Venice And Richard Iii -- Do You Believe Your Own Theory? : French Triangles In The Shakespeare Of James Joyce -- Hamlet's Dull Revenge : Vengeance In Hamlet -- Shall We Desire To Raze The Sanctuary? : Desire And Death In Othello And Other Plays -- Thou Dost Love Her Because Thou Know'st I Love Her : Rhetorical Figures In The Sonnets -- An Instrument To Vice You To 't : The Winter's Tale (act 1, Scene 2) -- Thou Co-active Art! : Jealousy In The Winter's Tale -- Neither Malice Nor Matter : Original Sin In The Winter's Tale -- To Your Shadow Will I Make True Love : The Winter's Tale (act 5, Scenes 1 And 2) -- Does Not The Stone Rebuke Me For Being More Stone Than It? : The Winter's Tale (act 5, Scene 3) -- They'll Take Suggestion As A Cat Laps Milk : Self-satire In The Tempest. René Girard. Includes Index. Love Delights In Praises : Valentine And Proteus In The Two Gentlemen Of Verona -- Envy Of So Rich A Thing : Collatine And Tarquin In The Rape Of Lucrece -- The Course Of True Love : The Four Lovers In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- O Teach Me How You Look : Helena And Hermia In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- All Their Minds Transfigured : A Genesis Of Myth In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- More Than Fancy's Images : The Craftsmen In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Something Of Great Constancy : Theseus And Hippolyta In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Love By Another's Eye : Mimetic Punning In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Love By Hearsay : Mimetic Strategies In Much Ado About Nothing -- Do You Love Him Because I Do! : The Pastoral Genre In As You Like It --'tis Not Her Glass, But You That Flatter Her : Self-love In As You Like It -- O, What A Deal Of Scorn Looks Beautiful : Self-love In Twelfth Night -- 'tis Not So Sweet Now As It Was Before : Orsino And Olivia In Twelfth Night -- A Woeful Cressid' 'mongst The Merry Greeks : The Love Affair In Troilus And Cressida -- Lechery And War : The Subversion Of The Medieval Troilus And Cressida -- These Men's Looks : Power Games In Troilus And Cressida -- O Pandarus! : Troilus And Cressida And The Universal Go-between -- Pale And Bloodless Emulation : The Crisis Of Degree In Troilus And Cressida --to You Your Father Should Be As A God : The Crisis Of Degree In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Confounding Contraries : The Crisis Of Degree In Timon Of Athens And Other Plays -- O Conspiracy! : Mimetic Seduction In Julius Caesar -- Domestic Fury And Fierce Civil Strife : Violent Polarization In Julius Caesar -- Great Rome Shall Suck Reviving Blood : The Founding Murder In Julius Caesar -- Let's Be Sacrificers But Not Butchers, Caius : Sacrifice In Julius Caesar -- Let's Carve Him As A Dish Fit For The Gods : Sacrificial Cycles In Julius Caesar -- A Universal Wolf And A Universal Prey : The Founding Murder In Troilus And Cressida -- Sweet Puck! : Sacrificial Resolution In A Midsummer Night's Dream -- To Entrap The Wisest : Sacrificial Ambivalence In The Merchant Of Venice And Richard Iii -- Do You Believe Your Own Theory? :french Triangles In The Shakespeare Of James Joyce -- Hamlet's Dull Revenge : Vengeance In Hamlet -- Shall We Desire To Raze The Sanctuary? : Desire And Death In Othello And Other Plays -- Thou Dost Love Her Because Thou Know'st I Love Her : Rhetorical Figures In The Sonnets -- An Instrument To Vice You To 't : The Winter's Tale (act 1, Scene 2) -- Thou Co-active Art! : Jealousy In The Winter's Tale -- Neither Malice Nor Matter : Original Sin In The Winter's Tale --to Your Shadow Will I Make True Love : The Winter's Tale (act 5, Scenes 1 And 2) -- Does Not The Stone Rebuke Me For Being More Stone Than It? : The Winter's Tale (act 5, Scene 3) -- They'll Take Suggestion As A Cat Laps Milk : Self-satire In The Tempest. René Girard. Originally Published: New York : Oxford University Press, 1991. Includes Index. In this groundbreaking work, one of our foremost literary and cultural critics turns to the major figure in English literature, William Shakespeare, and proposes a dramatic new reading of nearly all his plays and poems. The key to A Theater of Envy is Rene Girard's novel reinterpretation of "mimesis." For Girard, people desire objects not for their intrinsic value, but because they are desired by someone else--we mime or imitate their desires. This envy--or "mimetic desire"--he sees as one of the foundations of the human condition. Bringing such provocative and iconoclastic insights to bear on Shakespeare, Girard reveals the previously overlooked coherence of problem plays like Troilus and Cressida , and makes a convincing argument for elevating A Midsummer Night's Dream from the status of a chaotic comedy to a masterpiece. The book abounds with novel and provocative Shakespeare becomes "a prophet of modern advertising," and the threat of nuclear disaster is read in the light of Hamlet . Most intriguing of all, perhaps, is a brief, but brilliant aside in which an entirely new perspective is brought to the chapter in Joyce's Ulysses in which Stephen Dedalus gives a lecture on Shakespeare. In Girard's view only Joyce, perhaps the greatest of twentieth-century novelists, comes close to understanding the greatest of Renaissance playwrights. Throughout this impressively sustained reading of Shakespeare Girard's prose is sophisticated, but contemporary, and accessible to the general reader. Anyone interested in literature, anthropology, or psychoanalysis will want to read this challenging book. And all those involved in theatrical production and performance will find A Theater of Envy full of suggestive new ideas.