LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 17:3 March 2017
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2016
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

Feigned Madness –
Treatment of Theatre Imagery in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Adappatu Ancy Antony, M.A., B.Ed.
Siddharth R., M.A.


Abstract

Theatre imagery has become almost an aphorism, has its occurrence been traced out even in plays belonging to the pre - Shakespearean era. The content for feigned madness has ancient roots. In the renaissance, the feigned madness was more than really the stuff of comic duplicity or confusion. The theatre imagery in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a kind of perceptual lens through which we may observe and analyze the conduct of the character and their tragic predicaments. Hamlet is often described as tragedy dominated by the idea of the plays. Feigned madness becomes a powerful metaphor attached to the theatre imagery. “To be or not to be” begins one of the most famous soliloquies of all time by an author William Shakespeare in his play, Hamlet. There are several different motifs that are relayed within Hamlet’s story. These motifs include death, obsession and betrayal all of which contribute to reassure Hamlet’s madness. In every motif, the audience can state on a universal level both back in the day and in present times as death.

Keywords: Madness, antic disposition, imagery, William Shakespeare

Theatre Imagery - Feigned Madness

Theatre imagery has become almost an aphorism, has its occurrence been traced out even in plays belonging to the pre –Shakespearean era. The content for feigned madness has ancient roots. In the renaissance, the feigned madness was more than really the stuff of comic duplicity or confusion.

The theatre imagery in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a kind of perceptual lens through which we may observe and analyze the conduct of the character and their tragic predicaments. Hamlet is often described as tragedy dominated by the idea of the plays. Feigned madness becomes a powerful metaphor attached to the theatre imagery. It is manifested specifically in Act II, Scene III in Hamlet as an “antic disposition”. The metaphor takes other important forms in the play: the masks and pretenses put on by the main characters in Claudius mock court: the use of the itinerant players, the play within the play and the imagery of clothing and painting.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

AdappatuAncy Antony
Susan Villa, Srinivasa Gardens
Kallikkad 678006
Palakkad
Kerala
India
adappatu.ancy@gmail.com

Siddharth R. Gaya
Parakkulam
Kannadi 678701
Palakkad
Kerala
India
siddhu113m@gmail.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.