The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.0487  Thursday, 19 February 2004

[1]     From:   Allan Axelrod <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 18 Feb 2004 16:56:13 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 15.0465 Richard III and Soames Forsythe

[2]     From:   David Evett <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 18 Feb 2004 17:49:02 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 15.0465 Richard III and Soames Forsythe

[3]     From:   Philip Eagle <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Thursday, 19 Feb 2004 02:39:03 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 15.0465 Richard III and Soames Forsythe


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Allan Axelrod <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 18 Feb 2004 16:56:13 -0500
Subject: 15.0465 Richard III and Soames Forsythe
Comment:        Re: SHK 15.0465 Richard III and Soames Forsythe

 >I can't think of a
 >character that refrains from "evil", knowing it to be so, following a
 >negotiation between their better and worse selves. Angelo perhaps comes
 >closest. Can anyone suggest an example?
 >
 >Dan Smith

Perhaps the aborted assassination of Arthur by Hubert in 'King John'?
Orlando in AYLI for a while thinks of letting animals eat his bad
brother. Less directly, Oliver turns into a good guy, as does the bad Duke.

In the 'Taming', Katherine on reflection abjures her sinful disobedience.

  Allan Axelrod __

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           David Evett <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 18 Feb 2004 17:49:02 -0500
Subject: 15.0465 Richard III and Soames Forsythe
Comment:        Re: SHK 15.0465 Richard III and Soames Forsythe

 >I can't think of a
 >character that refrains from "evil", knowing it to be so, following a
 >negotiation between their better and worse selves. Angelo perhaps comes
 >closest. Can anyone suggest an example?

Angelo doesn't come very close, since the good side loses the debate.
The most extended Shakespearean version of the psychomachia I know is
*Jn* 4.1, where Hubert balances his allegiance to the murderous king
against the claims of conscience.  For good theatrical reasons the
virtuous side is argued by the potential victim, Prince Arthur.  The
episode is doubly ironized, of course.  The first twist occurs during
the Hubert-John interchange in the following scene, in which Hubert
withholds from the King the news that John still lives, an action whose
only motivation seems to be to force John into a similar examination of
his own conscience; John tries deviously to force responsibility for the
boy's death onto his servant, and never does fully confess or repent, an
outcome that helps make his deathbed agony morally appropriate.  The
harder twist comes when Arthur attempts to escape from the castle where
he has been a prisoner and kills himself in the attempt.  My detailed
analysis of this event will be published in a forthcoming issue of
Shakespeare International Yearbook, along with a bunch of other rich stuff.

David Evett

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Philip Eagle <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Thursday, 19 Feb 2004 02:39:03 -0500
Subject: 15.0465 Richard III and Soames Forsythe
Comment:        Re: SHK 15.0465 Richard III and Soames Forsythe

Well, Launcelot Gobbo plays out a parodic debate between a "fiend" and
his "conscience" on whether to abandon Shylock, at the start of Merchant
of Venice II,ii.  The fact that it is none too serious suggests that
Shakespeare might have been parodying an established convention.

Philip Eagle

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