Introduction: Shakespeare and the Culture of Emotion

Author:

Meek   Richard  

Journal:

Shakespeare

Issue Date:

2012

Abstract(summary):

This introduction places the contents of this special issue in the context of recent developments in Shakespeare studies and the cultural history of emotion. Several recent critics have emphasised that early modern emotions were understood in relation to the body, particularly the notion that the balance of bodily humours dictated one's physical and mental state. Yet humoral theory is only one way of approaching this topic, and needs to be brought into dialogue with other cultural frameworks and theoretical insights. As the essays in this special issue demonstrate, Shakespeare's characters themselves contemplate and comment upon their relationship with the culture of emotion that shaped them.

Page:

279-285