Crossing Boundaries in Shakespeare

Leggatt's discussion of Troilus and Cressida begins with the difficulty of pinning down its genre, noting that it "breaks generic boundaries'' (84). Since the same violation themes and image patterns shows up in Troilus and Cressida, Leggatt strongly argues that it should be cons...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:English studies in Canada 2007-09, Vol.33 (3), p.1
Main Author: Detmer-Goebel, Emily
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American studies
British & Irish literature
Culture
English literature
Literary criticism
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Leggatt's discussion of Troilus and Cressida begins with the difficulty of pinning down its genre, noting that it "breaks generic boundaries'' (84). Since the same violation themes and image patterns shows up in Troilus and Cressida, Leggatt strongly argues that it should be considered a tragedy. When Kate defends Grumio, Petruchio's servant, she begins "to see herself in the way that Petruchio treats third-party servants'' (56). Since Petruchio treats Kate as ''a servant or worse,'' she is educated about such roles when she learns from her submission to them that she is dependent "on those who help and care for her'' (55,57). [...]Kate gains the ethical insight that leads to her "myth of reciprocity'' which her sermon highlights (58). Weil points out that "in acting for herself as well as for her mistress, she gives lie to the alternatives initially posed by Iago'' (75). [...]Emilia's speech about all that has happened also seems to revive Othello, freeing him from Iago's chains, to return to the role of ''public guardian'' (75).
ISSN:0317-0802
1913-4835