Reviews for Shifting borders

The average rating for Shifting borders based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-02 00:00:00 Jorge Romero Shakespeare’s Tragedies: Violation and Identity examines the violation that occurs with characters which ultimately leads to the questioning of their identity. Alexander Leggatt states that his purpose is to look at identity and violation in Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth from a textual examination, as opposed to a sociological one (through customs and culture). He argues that while other critics have looked that the plays through cultural and sexual politics, Leggatt, heavily influenced by feminist criticism, approaches “the play[s] themselves, trying to keep them free to do their own thinking” (1). He also indicates that his approach will emphasize the actual thematic interaction between characters and how their performances on stage impact the context of the play, through interpretation, specifically relating to the themes of violation and identity. By looking at these tragedies, Leggatt successfully demonstrates to his readers that the acts of violence influence the development of the plays while questioning the character’s and their ability to identify themselves before, after, and during their moments of violation. Tragedies details into the act of violation and its effects in identity. Leggatt separates and articulately examines each play, identifying strong themes that influences and impacts the characters. Each chapter examines violation and identity separately, as well as how they are intertwined. His main focus, however is on Lavinia. He thoroughly examines Titus Andronicus, more so than the other plays and even begins his Introduction with his overview of Lavinia. Through analyzing the language, and lack thereof from Lavinia, who is a mute, there is an understanding that the violation of Lavinia (her rape and cutting of her hands and tongue) is the most extreme act of identity-violation seen in these chosen tragedies. His interpretation of Lavinia feeds throughout every chapter and brings up some very interesting concepts such, saying, “that one play feeds on another as ideas are picked up, transformed, and arranged in new combinations” (7). Leggatt creates a well-developed argument that focuses on the textual implications of identity through acts of violation. Leggatt has an interesting perspective on the seven tragedies he focuses on. He analyzes each play with great thought and brings in new perspectives, such as the idea that Iago and Emilia in Othello view marriage as a violation and a relationship that can be ignored, while “Othello and Desdemona together, shocking to he conventional mind, unsettle their identities and lead to mutual estrangement” (144). Thus, while Iago is determined to ruin their identities, one is able to note that he has no identity himself. Leggatt uses Macbeth to describe another form of relationship; the relationship within yourself. “Othello and Lear lose their name. Macbeth never loses his name; but he seems to lose contact with his own body” (184). While Macbeth examines his hands, he cannot see the relationship he has to them because of the violation that he has committed. With Hamlet, Leggatt explains that the theatrical performance of the Ghost is what “it all goes back to.” He details into his argument by saying that “the identification of performer with role is arguable what makes theatre” (61) which triggers the audience to identify the fact that the Ghost resembles the belated King Hamlet, but is not the actual character. This example of identity is displayed in the stage performance of the actor. Without the notion of appearing to be the king, but not really him, the play would not be faced with the questioning of Hamlet and the king’s identity. His chapters, which aid in separating the transition from one play to the next, however all compare Lavinia to other characters that have been violated. Leggatt’s weaknesses lie with the inability to separate and identify characters for themselves. He also has the tendency stretch his comparisons to Lavinia in interesting ways, for example in Troilus and Cressida, he explains that the kissing scene is, “the play’s equivalent of the rape of Lavinia” (103), which seems a little bit of an exaggeration after recognizing the trauma that Lavinia experienced. Another interesting connection is in examining Romeo and Juliet. Leggatt compares Juliet’s scene of awaking from her night of consummating with Romeo (which can also be a form of chastity- violation) to an orgasm while still discussing the subject of identity and love and a foreshadowing to her death. He notes that, “orgasm means not fertility but death” (47). His tendency to compare characters with Lavinia, though thought-provoking and thoroughly examined, overpowers in detail with the other plays, individually. Considering that he has a strong background in analyzing feminist critics, he uses his knowledge and brings up some powerful perspectives on scenes of Lavinia, in comparison to other women in the plays. In a sense, he is giving her the voice that she lost through her brutal violation. His strengths are prevalent when he is able to identify Shakespeare’s tendency to burden females. Leggatt details into the misreading of the characters Lavinia, Cressida, Desdemona, and Cordelia, and how although they are able to use their own form of language and attempt to communicate with the men in the play; however, they are misread. This theme of miscommunication is a pattern that is rather interesting in showing how the characters react differently. For example, in King Lear, Lear views Cordelia’s “sensible, measures profession of love as a flat refusal of it. If she is not giving him what he wants, she is giving him nothing” (147). Another strength discovered in Tragedies, is Leggatt’s ability to evaluate the effects on the audience with proper screenplay and stage performance. He emphasizes the importance between the relationships of the actors on stage to their viewing audience and the reactions and outcomes. With Titus Andronicus, Leggatt suggests that the actor(ess) playing Lavinia must perform with great skill and silent-force because she does not have her hands or tongue. “Lavinia deprived of language and Lavinia and Titus deprived of hand-gestures have been deprived of two instruments of the actor’s art” (24). Though implicating that his intentions were to focus on the textual content of the plays, culture is prevalent, in that Shakespeare has created his own world of culture. By comparing characters in other plays to Lavinia, Leggatt identifies Shakespeare’s play Titus Andronicus, as being the underlying foundation, or set-culture, that he (Shakespeare) followed when developing his other tragedies. Leggatt’s interpretation of these seven tragedies, though resisting the focus on culture, brings up contrasting themes, such as a kiss in one play being identified as romantic and violation or rape in another, which has potential to be culturally examined.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-11-29 00:00:00 John Kenyon Entirely too concerned with narrative, as most contemporary historical texts are. Seek out primary sources yourself. Forego this revisionist nonsense except for use as a very, very general signpost, a resource for which Wikipedia is equally valid.