The Time Is Out of Joint: Shakespeare as Philosopher of HistoryThe Time Is Out of Joint handles the Shakespearean oeuvre from a philosophical perspective, finding that Shakespeare's historical dramas reflect on issues and reveal puzzles which were taken up by philosophy proper only in the centuries following them. Shakespeare's extraordinary handling of time and temporality, the difference between truth and fact, that of theory, and that of interpretation and revelatory truth are evaluated in terms of Shakespeare's own conjectural endeavors, and are compared with early modern, modern, and postmodern thought. Heller shows that modernity, which recognized itself in Shakespeare only from the time of Romanticism, found in Shakespeare's work a revelatory character which marked the end of both metaphysical system-building and a tragic reckoning with the inaccessibility of an absolute, timeless truth. Heller distinguishes the four stages found in constantly unique relation in Shakespeare's work (historical, personal, political, and existential) and probes their significance as time comes to fall 'out of joint' and may be again set aright. Rather than initially bestowing upon Shakespeare the dubious honorary title of philosopher, Heller probes the concretely situated reflections of characters who must face a blind and irrational fate either without taking responsibility for the discordance of time, or with a responsibility which may both transform history into politics, and set right the time which is out of joint. In the ruminations and undertakings of these characters, Shakespeare's dramas present a philosophy of history, a political philosophy, and a philosophy of (im)moral personality. Heller weighs each as distinctly modern confrontations with the possibility of truth and virtue within a human historical condition no less multifarious for its momentariness. |
From inside the book
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Page 1
... . In what follows, I will make only another attempt to penetrate the absolutely unique combination of the four stages (historical, personal, political, and existential) and the four 1 The Time Is Out of Joint : Introduction.
... . In what follows, I will make only another attempt to penetrate the absolutely unique combination of the four stages (historical, personal, political, and existential) and the four 1 The Time Is Out of Joint : Introduction.
Page 2
... existential) and the four ways to cope with time being out ofjoint.These include facing heimarmene in Good or in Evil without taking up the responsibility to set the time right; facing it and taking up such a responsibility ...
... existential) and the four ways to cope with time being out ofjoint.These include facing heimarmene in Good or in Evil without taking up the responsibility to set the time right; facing it and taking up such a responsibility ...
Page 4
... existential soliloquy; the hero subjects himself to the unknown director of the world of vanitatum vanitas. Shakespeare presents many of his heroes, deserving and undeserving, with philosophical reflections. But those characters can do ...
... existential soliloquy; the hero subjects himself to the unknown director of the world of vanitatum vanitas. Shakespeare presents many of his heroes, deserving and undeserving, with philosophical reflections. But those characters can do ...
Page 47
... existential. Horatio is the mirror Hamlet so dearly needs. And Horatio knows Hamlet better than Hamlet knows himself. In fact, Hamlet's story is told by Horatio. Hamlet's mask is lifted. We witness his silent ruminations because Horatio ...
... existential. Horatio is the mirror Hamlet so dearly needs. And Horatio knows Hamlet better than Hamlet knows himself. In fact, Hamlet's story is told by Horatio. Hamlet's mask is lifted. We witness his silent ruminations because Horatio ...
Page 52
... existential experiences. Being stripped naked can be the final stage in the search for identity. The person stripped naked has to recognize his real self in his nakedness, and he must continue to live for a while in the aware- ness of ...
... existential experiences. Being stripped naked can be the final stage in the search for identity. The person stripped naked has to recognize his real self in his nakedness, and he must continue to live for a while in the aware- ness of ...
Contents
1 | |
13 | |
Part II The History Plays
| 161 |
Part III Three Roman Plays
| 279 |
Postscript Historical Truth and Poetic Truth
| 367 |
About the Author
| 375 |
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absolute stranger accusations actors already Antony and Cleopatra Antony’s asks becomes begins believe betrayed Bolingbroke Brutus Cassius Claudius comedies Coriolanus Coriolanus’s curses death double bind drama duchess Duke enemies Enobarbus existential fact fate father fight forgiveness Gloucester God’s grandeur guilty Hamlet happens hatred Henry’s HenryVI heroes historical history plays Horatio Iago interpretation Julius Caesar kill kind King Henry King Lear king’s Lady Macbeth lovers Machiavellian madness Marc Antony Margaret Midsummer Night’s Dream moral mother murder nature needs never Octavius ofjoint ofthe ofYork one’s Ophelia Othello passion patrician perhaps person plebeians Plutarch political portrays Prince queen radical evil rage reason remains Richard role Roman Rome says scene sense sexual Shake Shakespeare Shakespearean characters Shylock soul speaks stage manager story Suffolk theater thee thing thou throne traditional tragedy true truth turns tyrant understand virtue wants wicked women words