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The enduring appeal of Shakespeare's works derives largely from the fact that they contain brilliantly drawn characters. Interpretations of these characters are products of changing modes of thought, and thus past explanations of their behavior, including Shakespeare's, no longer satisfy us. In this work, Bernard J. Paris, an eminent Shakespearean scholar, shows how Shakespeare endowed his tragic heroes with enduring human qualities that have made them relevant to people of later eras.Bargains with Fate employs a psychoanalytic approach inspired by the theories of Karen Horney to analyze Shakespeare's four major tragedies and the personality that can be inferred from all of his works. This compelling study first examines the tragedies as dramas about individuals with conflicts like our own who are in a state of crisis due to the breakdown of their bargains with fate, a belief that they can magically control their destinies by living up to the dictates of their defensive strategies.Filled with bold hypotheses supported by carefully detailed accounts, this innovative study is a resource for students and scholars of Shakespeare, and for those interested in literature as a source of psychological insight. The author's combination of literary and psychoanalytic perspectives guides us to a humane understanding of Shakespeare and his protagonists, and, in turn, to a more profound knowledge of ourselves and human behavior.
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About the Author:
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Bernard J. Paris is professor emeritus of English at the University of Florida. His fields of interest include Victorian and comparative fiction and the psychological study of literature. He is author of numerous books, including Rereading George Eliot, Heaven and Its Discontents: Milton’s Characters in Paradise Lost, Bargains with Fate: Psychological Crises and Conflicts in Shakespeare and His Plays, and A General Drama of Pain: Character and Fate in Hardy’s Major Novels.
". . . a powerful new study of Shakespeare's four great tragedies and of the man himself. These are original and strong readings in which a picture of Shakespeare's personality emerges that is clear and convincing."
—Norman Holland, University of Florida
"Paris unashamedly and insightfully celebrates Shakespeare's capacity for a mimetic, psychologically rich and complex representation of character . . . . Furthermore, he uses his investigations of the plays to speculate about Shakespeare the author and his psychological development . . . . he addresses his book primarily to 'students and lovers of Shakespeare,' to . . . those 'who are interested in literature as a source of psychological insight,' even 'self-understanding and growth.' Indeed, anyone who counts himself or herself in one of these categories will be enlightened—and delighted—by this book."
—Margret Schaefer, Psychoanalytic Books, Vol. 5
" . . . a delight to read, both for concentrating on the psychology of the major characters—an astonishingly underrepresented aspect of modern Shakespeare studies—and for the many brilliant and altogether convincing points Paris has to make."
—Paul Bertram, Rutgers University
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- PublisherSpringer
- Publication date2013
- ISBN 10 148996147X
- ISBN 13 9781489961471
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages320
- Rating
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