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Index
THE ARTISTIC LINKS BETWEEN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND SIR THOMAS MORE
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE
SHAKESPEARE’S SEARCH FOR THE ESSENCE OF DRAMATIC FORM
Shakespeare’s Formal Proclamation
CHAPTER 1
“MORE VIRTUALLY DOES SHAKESPEARE’S WORK FOR HIM”: DOGMAS OF THE “MORE MYTH”
The Critical Background
“Shakespeare Dialogue Is More’s Dialogue”
“Shakespeare’s Scenes Are More’s Scenes”
“Shakespeare’s Richard Is More’s Richard”
Basic Precepts in Shakespeare’s Transformation of More’s Narrative into Dynamic Drama
More’s Priorities
Shakespeare’s Priorities
More’s Denigrating “Exposure” of Richard’s Role-Playing
The Impact of More’s Richard on Shakespeare’s Imagination
Shakespeare’s Separation of More’s View from Richard’s
What Shakespeare Hoped to Learn from Richard
Richard’s Escape and Its Consequences
The Falling Out between Shakespeare and Richard
Shakespeare’s Dilemma: How to Reconcile Richard’s Play with the Tetralogy Richard Has Disrupted
The More Myth versus the Tudor Myth
PART I
INSPIRATION: RE-ENVISIONING THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE FROM THE PROTAGONIST’S POINT OF VIEW
CHAPTER 2
“THOU ART A TRAITOR. OFF WITH HIS HEAD!”: APPLYING THE RICARDIAN SHOCK TO DE CASIBUS NARRATIVE
HASTINGS. “Talk’st Thou to Me of ‘Ifs’? Thou Art a Traitor.”
More’s Treatment of Hastings
Shakespeare’s Richard
Shakespeare’s Scene
Shakespeare’s Prologue: “Chop Off His Head!”
Building Up Hastings’ Expectations
Richard as Propelling Character: His Coup
The Experience
Hastings’ Lament (3.4.80–107)
Structural Principles: The 180-Degree Reversal
The Next Step in Shakespeare’s Creative Process
CLARENCE. “You Are Deceiv’d, Your Brother Gloucester Hates You”
It Must Have Seemed a Challenge to Shakespeare
Clarence Scene Analyzed as a Shock Scene
Foreshadowing
Establishing Clarence’s Expectations
Clarence’s Dream
Priorities of the Murderers
Persuading the Murderers
The Shock the Murderers Administer to Clarence
Shakespeare Shapes the Audience’s Attitude to Clarence
Links to 2.1
EDWARD. “Why, So: Now Have I Done a Good Day’s Work.”
What Is in More
Shakespeare’s Changes: Richard Turns Edward’s Exultation to Despair
Edward’s Lament
The Other Laments
Conclusion
CHAPTER 3
“FOR ON THAT GROUND I’LL MAKE A HOLY DESCANT—”: TWO CON MEN SHOW HOW THEIR THESPIAN SKILLS BROUGHT RICHARD’S CAUSE “TO A HAPPY ISSUE”
The Critical Consensus
Looking for Richard’s Point of View
Shakespeare’s Richard Crafts His Masterpiece
Thomas More’s Version of Richard’s Skills at “Playing upon Scaffolds”
Shakespeare’s Re-evaluation of More’s Judgment
Constructing the Replay
Establishing the Criteria that Will Refute More’s Charges
The Multileveled Action
The First Prologue (3.7.1–55): Creating the Insurmountable Obstacle
Staging the Starting Point: Failure
“How Now, How Now, What Say the Citizens?”
“The Citizens Are Mum, Say Not a Word”
The Body of the Action
“The Lord Mayor Knocks” (3.7.55): Playing for Two Audiences
Buckingham and the “Holy Descant”
The “Ground” of Richard’s Dissent
Presenting the Reluctant Richard (3.7.56–94)
Buckingham’s Petition and Richard’s Refusal of It (3.7.95–173): “My Desert / Unmeritable Shuns Your High Request”
Richard’s Definitive “Nay” (3.7.174–220): “I Cannot Nor I Will Not Yield to You”
Effecting the Feigned Reversal (3.7.221–36): “I Must Have Patience to Endure the Load”
The Conversion of the Citizens (3.7.237–47): A Blessing and an Amen
Staging the Citizens’ Acquiescence
Shakespeare’s Discovery of the Form
Elements of the Form
The Action Arises from the Established Dichotomy
PART II
THE SUPREME ACHIEVEMENT: SHAKESPEARE’S DISCOVERIES PERFECTED AND APPLIED
CHAPTER 4
“WAS EVER WOMAN IN THIS HUMOR WOO’D? / WAS EVER WOMAN IN THIS HUMOR WON?”: RICHARD’S BOAST OF HIS PROWESS AS LOVER AND PLAYWRIGHT
Establishing the Polarities: The Scene’s Prologue (1.2.1–45)
Bridging the Gap: Five Phases of Intensification (1.2.46–196)
Phase One: “This Keen Encounter of Our Wits” (1.2.46–114)
Phase Two: “Your Beauty Was the Cause” (1.2.114–44)
Phase Three: “Those Eyes of Thine from Mine Have Drawn Salt Tears” (1.2.144–72)
Phase Four: “If Thy Revengeful Heart Cannot Forgive” (1.2.173–85)
Phase Five: “Then Bid Me Kill Myself” (1.2.186–96)
The Scene’s Reversal: “Look How My Ring Encompasseth Thy Finger” (1.2.197–205)
Confirming the Bargain: The Scene’s Conclusion (1.2.206–26)
The Scene’s Epilogue: “Was Ever Woman in This Humor Won?” (1.2.227–63)
PART III
EXPANDING THE PERSPECTIVE: THE DYNAMICS OF THE PLAY’S “GEOLOGICAL FAULT”
CHAPTER 5
“THE MOST ARCH ACT OF PITEOUS MASSACRE / THAT EVER YET THIS LAND WAS GUILTY OF”: HOW SHAKESPEARE’S METHOD OF EXPOSING RICHARD DIFFERS FROM MORE’S
Richard’s Illusions Exposed: A Widened Perspective
Richard’s Dismissal of Buckingham (4.2.1–122)
More’s Musings and Speculations on the Rift
Shakespeare’s Application of Richard’s Shock Device to More’s Musings on Rumor
Staging the Child-Murders
Prologue: Richard’s Hiring of Tyrrel (4.2.32–82)
Making Known the Dolorous End of Those Babes (4.3.1–57): Tyrrel’s Report of “the Tyrannous and Bloody Act”
How (and Why) Tyrrel’s Point of View Undermines Richard’s
CHAPTER 6
“TO HER GO I, A JOLLY THRIVING WOOER”: THE SECOND WOOING SCENE (4.4.199–431)
Shakespeare’s Appropriation of More’s Elizabeth
Mounting the Narrative on the Formal Template
Critics’ Quandaries
Can Richard Persuade the Grieving Elizabeth to Let Him Marry Her Daughter?
“I intend to make her Queen of England” (4.4.199–267)
“How canst thou woo her?” (4.4.267–365)
Can Richard Sway Elizabeth By Swearing His Fidelity? (4.4.366–417)
“Shall I go win my daughter to your will?” (4.4.418–31)
CHAPTER 7
“HERE PITCH OUR TENT, EVEN HERE IN BOSWORTH FIELD”: MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE TETRALOGY . . .
Shakespeare’s Fifth-Act Abandonment of the New Techniques
Scene Structure
Richard’s Transformation from Monster to Man
The Emblematic Earl of Richmond
Spectacle
CHAPTER 8
LATER USES OF THE RICARDIAN TEMPLATE: CRAFTING THE FIFTH ACT OF CORIOLANUS
The Impossible Beginning
Sequence 5.1.1–74. Can the Tribunes Persuade Menenius to Go to Actium?
Sequence 5.2.1–111. Can Menenius Persuade Coriolanus to Spare Rome?
Sequence 5.3.1–209. Can Volumnia Break Coriolanus’ Rock-Hard Will?
EPILOGUE
APPENDIX
INTERLOCKING EPISODES OF ACTION: SHAKESPEARE’S USE OF MORE’S “RUSTY ARMOR” SCENE (3.5.1–109)
Elements of Interlocking between Scenic Units
Throughline of the Sequence
The Interlocking Functions of This Satellite Sequence
More’s Homage to Jane Shore and Shakespeare’s Omission of It
NOTES
Preface: Shakespeare’s Search for the Essence of Dramatic Form
1 “More Virtually Does Shakespeare’s Work for Him”: Dogmas of the “More Myth”
2 “Thou Art a Traitor. Off with His Head!”: Applying the Ricardian Shock to De Casibus Narrative
3 “For on That Ground I’ll Make a Holy Descant—”: Two Con Men Show How Their Thespian Skills Brought Richard’s Cause “to a Happy Issue”
4 “Was Ever Woman in This Humor Woo’d? / Was Ever Woman in This Humor Won?”: Richard’s Boast of His Prowess as Lover and Playwright
5 “The Most Arch Act of Piteous Massacre / That Ever Yet This Land Was Guilty of”: How Shakespeare’s Method of Exposing Richard Differs from More’s
6 “To Her Go I, a Jolly Thriving Wooer”: The Second Wooing Scene (4.4.199–431)
7 “Here Pitch Our Tent, Even Here in Bosworth Field”: Meanwhile, Back at the Tetralogy . . .
8 Later Uses of the Ricardian Template: Crafting the Fifth Act of Coriolanus
Appendix: Interlocking Episodes of Action: Shakespeare’s Use of More’s “Rusty Armor” Scene (3.5.1–109)
WORKS CITED
SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD III—INDEX OF SCENES ANALYZED
INDEX
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