2 Between ocean and land
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Ben Haworth
Abstract
Beginning with Shakespeare’s marine imagery and the friction between sea and shore, this chapter addresses the concepts of national identity and ‘otherness’, with the oceans an uncontrollable force that mirror the inward motivations of humanity and the coastline as a symbol of the limit of man’s control. The chapter develops John Gillies’s notion that Shakespeare created dramatic literary geographies, and argues that the playwright often utilised the metaphoric inferences of such settings, juxtaposing city and sea to play on the resistance inherent in such liminal spaces. Ambiguity, conflict and subversion are the by-products of the contrasts of sea and shore and a consideration of parallels the poet created between the imagined theatrical spaces of islands, Mediterranean cities and the familiar realities of one of the greatest maritime cities of its day, London, highlights the presence of opposition with which his audiences would have been all too familiar. The Comedy of Errors forms a case study for these cultural conflicts as Ephesus epitomises everything from England’s monarchical systems of power to the recent upheavals in religious ideologies, the patriarchal hierarchy to the disparity between social classes. The chapter thus develops the notion that Shakespeare was repeatedly drawn to the dynamic and dramatic potential of a literary geography that placed the sea and city in close proximity.
Abstract
Beginning with Shakespeare’s marine imagery and the friction between sea and shore, this chapter addresses the concepts of national identity and ‘otherness’, with the oceans an uncontrollable force that mirror the inward motivations of humanity and the coastline as a symbol of the limit of man’s control. The chapter develops John Gillies’s notion that Shakespeare created dramatic literary geographies, and argues that the playwright often utilised the metaphoric inferences of such settings, juxtaposing city and sea to play on the resistance inherent in such liminal spaces. Ambiguity, conflict and subversion are the by-products of the contrasts of sea and shore and a consideration of parallels the poet created between the imagined theatrical spaces of islands, Mediterranean cities and the familiar realities of one of the greatest maritime cities of its day, London, highlights the presence of opposition with which his audiences would have been all too familiar. The Comedy of Errors forms a case study for these cultural conflicts as Ephesus epitomises everything from England’s monarchical systems of power to the recent upheavals in religious ideologies, the patriarchal hierarchy to the disparity between social classes. The chapter thus develops the notion that Shakespeare was repeatedly drawn to the dynamic and dramatic potential of a literary geography that placed the sea and city in close proximity.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- Prologue viii
- 1 In search of the liminal 1
- 2 Between ocean and land 36
- 3 Subversive sylvan settings 80
- 4 Corrupted Eden 120
- 5 Theatres of war 163
- Conclusion 204
- Bibliography 208
- Index 217
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- Prologue viii
- 1 In search of the liminal 1
- 2 Between ocean and land 36
- 3 Subversive sylvan settings 80
- 4 Corrupted Eden 120
- 5 Theatres of war 163
- Conclusion 204
- Bibliography 208
- Index 217
