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Why Ganymede Faints and the Duke of York Weeps: Passion Plays in Shakespeare
- Author(s):
- Sujata Iyengar (see profile)
- Date:
- 2017
- Subject(s):
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616, Emotions (Philosophy), Medicine, History, Books
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Gender studies, blood, menstruation, Theatre history, Shakespeare, Philosophy of emotion, History of medicine, Book history
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6W24D
- Abstract:
- This article revisits contemporary critical debates surrounding the presence of cross-dressed boys as women on the early modern stage – in particular the question of whether or to what extent boy-actors could or should be said to represent ‘women’ or ‘femininity’ – through the Shakespearian emblem of the bloody rag or handkercher. In all but one instance, these soiled napkins appear alongside what the plays call ‘passion’ of various kinds. I examine bloody rags on Shakespeare’s stage in the light of early modern anti-theatrical polemics, medical disputes about sex-difference and the conflicted cultural status of printed paper in order to argue that these besmirched tokens bring together early modern ‘passions’ in multiple senses: strong or overpowering, embodied feeling; the fluid dynamics of early modern bodies; the Passion of Christ; erotic suffering; and, crucially, the performance on stage of all of the above.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article Show details
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 6 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
- Share this:
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