Staging touch in Shakespeare's England / Alex MacConochie.
| Author/creator | MacConochie, Alex |
| Other author | Oxford University Press. |
| Format | Electronic |
| Edition | First edition. |
| Publication Info | Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2022. |
| Description | viii, 246 pages ; 23 cm |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from Oxford Scholarship Online |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Machine generated contents note: 1. "Guided by her Foot, Which is Basest": Dominance, Submission, and Resistance at the Body's Base -- 2. "Lady, Shall I Lie in Your Lap?": Hierarchy, Reciprocity, and the Female Touch -- 3. "Untwine those Arms": Embraces, Marching Arm in Arm, and Contested Intimacy -- 4. "What mean these Hands?": Ambivalence, Agency, and Negotiation -- 5. "Makers of Manners": Rethinking Kissing on the Early Modern Stage. |
| Abstract | When Shakespearean characters kiss, embrace, or shake hands, what does it mean? Are dramatic characters following established rules of conduct, or breaking them? Are there rules to break? Staging Touch in Shakespeare's England addresses these and related questions and, in the process, uncovers the social semiotics of contact in the early modern theatre. Its central argument is twofold. First, dramatic characters use touch to define and contest the nature of their relationships: taking hands means something different than embracing or, indeed, holding hands a different way. Second, the definitions, the social roles of actions like these, are up for debate in venues ranging from sermons to the era's burgeoning literature on conduct. The drama not only portrays but participates in these debates. Where characters touch, so do different ideas about contact's role in a variety of contexts, from love and friendship to politics and business deals. Attending to the social roles of touch--what it signifies as much as how it feels--the book develops an outside-in approach to our understanding of early modern sensation: a sociology, rather than a phenomenology, of theatrical contact. It will be of use to editors, performers, and anyone interested in Shakespearean approaches to embodiment. Locating interpersonal touch at the centre of dialogues on consent, subjection, agency, and sexuality, this study offers new perspectives on an essential element of Renaissance drama. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages [225]-239) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2021946135 |
| ISBN | 0192857363 (hbk.) |
| ISBN | 9780192857361 (hbk.) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Resources | Access Content Online | ✔ Available |