A Cognitive Approach to Shakespearean Notions of Love, Madness, and Poetry

Chih-chiao Joseph Yang

《Ex-position》 40期 (2018/12) Pp. 195-219

https://doi.org/10.6153/EXP.201812_(40).0012

摘要

Whereas Plato points out in Phaedrus that divine madness, associated with the creative insanity of seers and poets, must be aligned with reason in both love and art, Shakespeare foregrounds the interplay among madness, love, and poetry in his works. In several sonnets, the speakers appear madly in love but are unhindered in their capacity to delineate-in poetry-their frenzied, unrequited love. A similar phenomenon can be observed in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Theseus appears rational when he claims that lovers, madmen, and poets are all ridiculous and incomprehensible; all the while, his own passion and sexual ethics compel him to go beyond the boundaries of reason. Theseus cannot justify his love for Hippolyta, who is swayed by his love and violence; at the same time, he chooses to ignore and even suppress the true love between Lysander and Hermia. This inconsistency parallels that of the four couples in the play, who, like the speakers in the sonnets, create their best poetry when they are madly in love. As a poet and playwright, Shakespeare seems to mock himself for conjuring these fantastic visions. Once we recognize the extraordinary wonders resulting from the coevality of love, madness, and poetry in these visions, however, the idea of divine madness is embodied and recreated in the experience of reading/seeing.

關鍵字

love ； madness ； A Midsummer Night's Dream ； poetry ； Shakespeare ； sonnets

參考文獻

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Shakespeare, William,Bate, Jonathan(ed.),Rasmussen, Eric(ed.)(2007).William Shakespeare: Complete Works.Basingstoke:Macmillan.

Bloom, Harold(ed.)(1987).William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.New York:Chelsea.

Booth, Stephen(1969).An Essay on Shakespeare's Sonnets.New Haven:Yale UP.