Mutilated Bodies: Maiming Energies in “Macbeth“

Abstract

This paper focuses upon the representation of the body as a constitutive of the self in the play “Macbeth” by W. Shakespeare. Considering some critical perspectives upon the play, the paper insists upon the dissected/mutilated body exterior as the object of knowledge and the main means towards the discovery and understanding of the body interior, which is a network of energies generally neglected in the early modern culture. The often conflictual critical interpretations are both the result of the textual ambiguity and of the critical subjectivity motivated/mutiladed by a certain propensity that is historically and socially conditioned.

Cuvinte-cheie: corp, reprezentare, joc, ex disecat

REZUMAT

Articolul se concentrează pe reprezentarea corpului ca element constitutiv al sinelui în piesa „Macbeth” de W. Shakespeare. Aplicând câteva perspective critice asupra piesei, lucrarea insistă asupra exteriorului corpului disecat ca obiect al cunoaşterii şi principal mijloc de descoperire şi înțelegere a interiorului corpului, care este o reţea de energii, în general neglijată în cultura modernă timpurie. Interpretările critice, adesea conflictuale, sunt atât rezultatul ambiguităţii textuale, cât şi al subiectivităţii critice motivate de o anumită propensiune condiţionată istoric şi social.

LANGUAGE OF PUBLICATION

English

UDC: 821.111.09-2(092)Shakespeare W.

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Received: March 2, 2014 | Reviewed: March 20, 2014 | Accepted for publication: March 23, 2014

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