In both Italian and Elizabethan tragedies, body parts are put on stage primarily to provoke a horrified response, an objective stated by G.B. Giraldi Cinthio in the theoretical writings related to the first performance of 'Orbecche'. In his early plays, especially '2Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus', Shakespeare takes full advantage of the freedom from the constraints of decorum enjoyed by English playwrights. And yet he too, like Giraldi, complicates the stage effect of body parts by introducing characters who cradle severed heads and limbs as poignant synechdoches of their loved ones. The article contrasts the way body parts are referred to and staged in the three plays, and explores the conflicting verbal and visual signals sent by on-stage responses that undercut or complicate the horror usually associated with the display of mutilated human bodies.
"Entre [...] la reine avec la tête de Suffolk": bercer des corps démembrés dans 'Orbecche', Henry VI (deuxième partie) et 'Titus Andronicus'
TEMPERA, Mariangela
2010
Abstract
In both Italian and Elizabethan tragedies, body parts are put on stage primarily to provoke a horrified response, an objective stated by G.B. Giraldi Cinthio in the theoretical writings related to the first performance of 'Orbecche'. In his early plays, especially '2Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus', Shakespeare takes full advantage of the freedom from the constraints of decorum enjoyed by English playwrights. And yet he too, like Giraldi, complicates the stage effect of body parts by introducing characters who cradle severed heads and limbs as poignant synechdoches of their loved ones. The article contrasts the way body parts are referred to and staged in the three plays, and explores the conflicting verbal and visual signals sent by on-stage responses that undercut or complicate the horror usually associated with the display of mutilated human bodies.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
