In Twelfth Night, I noticed that there were some interesting contrasting references throughout. Nearly back-to-back, Shakespeare writes references about religious characters directly following references to pagan myths. In 1.5, ll. 20-22, Shakespeare weaves in a pagan myth to illustrate his character's feelings: "That instant was I turned into a hart, And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, E'er since pursue me." Soon after, another character refers to a "cloistress" (l. 27), or a nun. This is clearly a religious catholic reference. Later on, there are references to Elysium, Arion, and other mythological characters and places. I'm wondering what Shakespeare's purpose was in using both kinds of references. It would seem that Shakespeare pushed the societal norm on just about everything, and maybe this was his way of continuing to challenge his readers and make them a bit uncomfortable. Obviously, Shakespeare had a flair for the dramatic, so perhaps this just served to further the edgy quality of his work.
Another possibility could be that Shakespeare was making a statement arguing for the fact that maybe it doesn't have to be one other the other, pagan or religious. My guess would be that Shakespeare was an instigator, a person who liked to press boundaries and stir things up. It would seem likely that, whether or not he actually believed in this kind of philosophy, he would try to push two seemingly opposite things together in his writing to make people think. Maybe it was just for attention. Who knows?
No comments:
Post a Comment