Shakespeare, William , 1564-1616

The character of the Fool in William Shakespeare's King Lear uses hitherto unexamined gustatory imagery as a linguistic device to achieve the literary fool's function of imparting wisdom that masquerades as nonsense. While previous critics have analyzed the linguistic devices of puns, riddles, and rhymes used by medieval and Renaissance literary fools, this thesis argues not only that the Fool's gustatory imagery constitutes the dominant motif in the play, but also employs food theory to demonstrate how these image patterns provide political commentary on the dramatic action. The Fool's pattern of gustatory imagery is employed as well by characters who can be seen as variations on the wise fool. Through these characters, Shakespeare establishes a food chain motif that classifies some characters as all-consumptive, even cannibalistic, and others as their starving prey. The pattern of food imagery offers a range of perspectives, from highly critical to idealistic, on the play's meaning and political relationships.

Twelve years separate the plays Titus Andronicus and Macbeth and yet the similarities between Tamora and Lady Macbeth seem to indicate that the former served as a model for the latter female revenge character. Despite the many characteristics that connect the two powerful women, Shakespeare not only intensifies Tamora but questions her maternal traits, exaggerates her competition with the male characters, and replaces her motives for madness in order to create Lady Macbeth. While it is often assumed that a female's identity is defined through her male counterpart, the opposite is true of the male characters in Titus Andronicus and Macbeth who are defined through the strength and personality of Tamora and Lady Macbeth, respectively. Analyzing the characteristics of these two women offers a new perspective on the characters, challenging the traditional observation that they are cruel and evil. Rather than viewing them as supernatural, controlling beings, my analysis allows the characters to simply be considered as driven, yet flawed women equal to the tragic heroes they encounter in the plays.

This thesis considers the role of two rhetoricians, Petruchio from William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Captain Ahab from Herman Melville's Moby-DIck, and analyzes their use of verbal performances. BOth Petruchio and Captain Ahab use pathologically manipulative rhetoric to manipulate others emotionally. Through this manipulation, they attempt to gain control, power, and authority. While both Petrucio and Ahab appear to succeed in manipulating others, they actually fail. Petruchio attempts to manipulate Katherine, but fails to attain mental submission from her, and Captain Ahab attempts to manipulate the crew to pursue hunting the whale, but as the narrative progresses, the crew becomes too disillusioned with the hunt to be persuaded by Ahab's rhetoric. In conclusion, both Petruchio and Captain Ahab are unable to sustain rhetorical control, and they both fall into demagoguery, therby suggesting that while they are alike as rhetoricians, they both fail similarly as rhetoricians.

This paper examines early modern climatology in order to analyze a correlation between weather, witchcraft, and their combined effects on Shakespeare's Macbeth. Contemporary climactic patterns including hailstorms, tempests, and other unusual phenomena drastically affected not only England but much of Europe. Religious and scientific texts of the period examined links between weather phenomena and witchcraft, suggesting that the weather afflictions were caused by witchcraft. Shakespeare incorporates this suggestion into Macbeth, as well, but takes the connection even further ; the witches in the play not only use their weather magic to afflict Scotland but also control the events of the play.

This thesis considers the relationship between scientific advances, identity formation, and literature in an early modern print culture. As medical theorists made their discoveries and defended their work they did so within the literary world; turning to the printed word to cultivate their personal identity and rebut dissenting colleagues. Subsequently, playwright William Shakespeare employed common medical knowledge within his plays. Twelfth Night presents male and female twins within the scope of a comedy that plays upon the issues of cross-dressing and mistaken sexual identity. During the Renaissance, it was believed that male and female seed was co-present in every person and through dominance a distinct sexual identity was developed. This thesis argues that while Shakespeare initially convoluted this by allowing one of the twins to cross-dress; he resolved the anatomical doubling by presenting both characters together on stage at the close of the play.