Elusiveness of revenge and impossibility of tragedy: Shakespeare’s Hamelt and Pirandello’s Enrico IV

Autores

  • Carla Dente

Resumo

The objective dimension of the relationship between Shakespeare and Pirandello, if one means to restrict it to explicit quotations and allusions, is very limited and would seem to make the link somewhat tenuous between the two dramatists so far apart in time; however, an indirect link—so far not spelled out—does exist, and I intend to reaffirm it here in all its strength. It is a question of a link that is to be found mainly in two plays: Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Pirandello’s Enrico IV (1921), which present on stage basic thematic analogies already articulated and argued in various words by the Italian writer, especially in the novel Il fu Mattia Pascal (1904) and the essay L’umorismo (1908). This is an element that shows the homogeneity, the continuity of the author’s thinking as well as the appearance of the same themes in the different literary forms Pirandello uses. I would like to emphasize in particular, with regard to this, the contiguity between the works of the imagination and these essays, of theory or practice.

Biografia do Autor

Carla Dente

Carla Dente took her degree in Modern Languages (English) at the University of Pisa, Italy, where she is Professor of English and teaches also English Theatre and Drama, both at undegratuate and postgraduate levels, and in the Doctorate School in Modern Comparative Literatures. She has published extensively on contemporary and Renaissance theatre, mainly on Shakespeare. Author of a collection of essays on Pinter’s works and methods of composition, she wrote La recita del diritto. Saggio su ‘The Merchant of Venice’ (2nd ed. 1995). Her recent published works include the editing of Teatro inglese contemporaneo: Beckett, Pinter, Stoppard, Bond, Hampton (1995), of Scenes of Change (1996), both published in Italy, and Proteus, the Language of Metamorphosis (Ashgate, London 2005). She planned and coedited a hypertext: ‘Hamlet’ Promptbooks of the Nineteenth Century, www3.humnet.unipi.it/ nutshell (2002) and an archive of texts, Rehearsing the Debate. La controversia sul teatro dal Rinascimento al Primo Settecento, collecting works concerned with the anti-theatrical debate both within and out of the theatre world in the Renaissance and the Restoration. She is a member of the Board of the International Shakespeare Association.

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Publicado

2005-01-01

Edição

n. 49 (2005)

Seção

Artigos

Licença

Copyright (c) 2005 Carla Dente

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Este trabalho está licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

A revista Ilha do Desterro publica artigos e resenhas inéditos, referentes as áreas de Inglês, Literaturas em Língua Inglesa e Estudos Culturais. Publica volumes mistos e/ou temáticos, com artigos e resenhas em inglês e português. 

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Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.