A rhetoric of comedy: essays on language as a theme in Shakespeare's comedies

Abstract

We have long accepted the notion that Shakespeare's earlier plays were proving-grounds for his later reworkings of themes, character types and generic approaches; we can also trace the gradual development of his vision of language itself, the medium of his art. This approach to rhetorical theory in Shakespeare's plays rests upon a historical analysis of the dialectical interplay of Platonic and Sophistic attitudes toward language from the Greek age through Shakespeare's day: a basic view of language as creative of new realities (Sophistic) is opposed by a usage of language to define and protect an inner essence from change (Platonic). An essentially comic and Sophistic display of language early in his career, that is, a delight in the ability of language to create new realities and happy endings (The Taming of the Shrew), later progresses to an exploration of Platonic rigidity and uses of literalism for evil (The Merchant of Venice); finally, Shakespeare explores ambivalence toward language and, ultimately, a deep distrust in its ability to create any comic resolution at all (All's Well That Ends Well), leading directly into the linguistic nihilism of the tragedies. The Tempest offers a realistic resolution of this progression from comedic through tragic vision of language: the medium possesses both the potential for tragedy and the power to create new, though imperfect, realities. Shakespeare's evolving vision of language is finally a result of the interminable dialectic of rhetorical views, and thus, linguistic world-views; ultimately, this dialectic of Platonic and Sophistic rhetoric is less a source of tension and interminable conflict than a reverberating, finally mysterious, interplay of antitheses, constant and aesthetically creative.