Vulnerable Ears: Hamlet and Poisonous Theater
Vulnerable Ears: Hamlet and Poisonous Theater
This chapter draws together the book’s concerns with the effects of the theater and the vulnerability of the body by examining the poisoned ear and the venomous power of language in Hamlet. It considers the play’s preoccupation with the vulnerability of the ears and the parallels between words and dangerous drugs as offering a model of corrosive theatrical power with both affective and material consequences. Drawing on early modern anatomical studies of ears as well as early modern debates about the material impact of words, the intensity of fears about the vulnerability of the body to language is demonstrated.
Keywords: Shakespeare, Hamlet, language, poison
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