Staging Touch in Shakespeare''s England

Examines the social roles of touch as depicted and debated in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries to show how touch is central to the dramatic vocabulary of early modern England.

List of contents

• Introduction: Redefining touch


• 1: "Guided by her foot, which is basest": Dominance, submission, and resistance at the body's base


• 2: "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?": Hierarchy, reciprocity, and the female touch


• 3: "Untwine those arms": Embraces, marching arm in arm and contested intimacy


• 4: "What mean these hands?": Ambivalence, agency, and negotiation


• 5: "Makers of manners": Rethinking kissing on the early modern stage


• Coda: Reunions


• Bibliography

About the author

Alex MacConochie is Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Trinity College, Connecticut. He has published articles on witchcraft, domestic violence, and touch in early modern theatre.

Summary

Examines the social roles of touch as depicted and debated in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries to show how touch is central to the dramatic vocabulary of early modern England.

Additional text

Alex MacConochie's Staging Touch in Shakespeare's England is a thoughtful treatment of one of the most readable onstage signals: physical touch. Treading from the matter of the foot to the question of kissing, MacConochie's examinationof when, where, and how early modern theatrical characters touch (and what this might have meant to their earliest audiences) is an illuminating tour of the powerful ways in which physical contact is a rich and complex language worthy of the most meticulous analysis.

Product details

• Authors: Alex MacConochie, Alex (Visiting Assistant Professor of Macconochie
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.01.2022
• EAN: 9780192857361
• ISBN: 978-0-19-285736-1
• No. of pages: 260
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; English, LITERARY CRITICISM / Shakespeare, LITERARY CRITICISM / Renaissance, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / General, Theatre Studies, Literary studies: general, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, Shakespeare Studies & Criticism, Literary studies: plays and playwrights, Relating to Shakespeare / Shakespearean