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Defacing god's work : Metamorphosis and the 'Mimicall Asse' in the age of Shakespeare
Carver, Robert Henry Fielding
Carver, Robert Henry Fielding
Abstract
If the English Middle Ages can be characterized by their general reticence in metamorphic matters, people might instinctively expect more liberal attitudes and expressions in the early-modern period. For most of the play, the protagonist makes little or no use of his supposed power to shift his own shape, although there are some para-metamorphic moments. Shakespeare borrowed a good deal from Marlowe as well as from Lyly, and he played with metamorphosis throughout his career. One of the most disturbing examples of the interpenetration of fact and fiction, reality and fable, is Nicholas Remy's Demonolatry, a text which has not previously featured in discussions of A Midsummer Night's Dream. All this material, arcane and convoluted as it is, supplies a web of sub-texts, both to the metamorphosis itself and to the Theseus' famous speech on Reason, Poets, Madmen, and Imagination.
Keywords
Transformation, Shapeshifting, Metamorphosis
Date
2017
Type
Book chapter
Journal
Book
Transformative Change in Western Thought: A History of Metamorphosis from Homer to Hollywood
Volume
Issue
Page Range
273-306
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Education and Arts
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled
Notes
© Modern Humanities Research Association and Tayor & Francis 2013.