“Never shake thy gory locks at me” (Macbeth, III.iv.50-51): Objecting to Gestures in Macbeth
Shakespeare's Macbeth displays a pattern of characters objecting to gestures, be it others' or their own. This includes Macbeth refusing to shake hands with his opponent before the battle, his words to Banquo's ghost quoted in the title above, Banquo's own puzzlement at the weird...
Gardado en:
| Publicado en: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces, |
|---|---|
| Autor Principal: | |
| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicado: |
Interfaces
2020
|
| Sujets: | |
| Acceso en liña: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| id |
openedition-oai:revues.org:interfaces_602 |
|---|---|
| record_format |
openedition |
| spelling |
openedition-oai:revues.org:interfaces_602 https://doi.org/10.4000/interfaces.602 urn:doi:10.4000/interfaces.602 en https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/602 2020-12-15T01:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/h4gu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ “Never shake thy gory locks at me” (Macbeth, III.iv.50-51): Objecting to Gestures in Macbeth Interfaces Université Bourgogne Europe info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2647-6754 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1164-6225 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces Guéron, Claire Shakespeare geste action héroïsme rhétorique art oratoire spectacle suspense empathie catharsis Shakespeare gesture action heroism rhetoric oratory pageant suspense empathy catharsis Shakespeare's Macbeth displays a pattern of characters objecting to gestures, be it others' or their own. This includes Macbeth refusing to shake hands with his opponent before the battle, his words to Banquo's ghost quoted in the title above, Banquo's own puzzlement at the weird sisters' placing a finger over their lips, the doctor's suspicions at Lady Macbeth's rubbing her hands and sleepwalking, as well as Malcom's request that Macduff not pull his hat over his eyes. In many of these cases, gesture is pitted against speech, which seems to undermine the classically-derived ideal of "suit[ing] the word to the action, the action to the word" (Hamlet, 3.2.16-18). This essay will suggest that in Macbeth, speech/gesture dissociation meta-dramatically channels the play's representation of heroic decline into an exploration of non-mimetic ways of generating suspense, empathy, and catharsis, in keeping with the turn towards pantomime and pageantry that marked early seventeenth-century drama. Dans le Macbeth de Shakespeare, on relève une accumulation de répliques par lesquelles un personnage s'oppose à une gestuelle, qu'il s'agisse de la sienne ou de celle d'un autre. On pense au moment où Macbeth refuse de serrer à main à son adversaire avant un combat singulier, à la réplique citée en titre ci-dessus, correspondant au moment où Macbeth demande au fantôme de Banquo, sa victime, de ne pas secouer la tête, à l'étonnement manifesté par Banquo lui-même lorsque les sorcières portent un doigt à leurs lèvres, aux soupçons du médecin lorsque Lady Macbeth se frotte les mains dans un accès de somnambulisme, et à l’injonction de Malcom qui demande à Macduff de ne pas rabattre la visière de son couvre-chef sur ses yeux. Dans ces exemples, le geste est souvent opposé à la parole, ce qui semble aller à l’encontre de l’idéal d’éloquence néo-classique qui, pour reprendre la formule de Hamlet, consiste à : « [r]égle[r] le geste sur le mot, et le mot sur le geste » (Hamlet, 3.2.17-18)1. On se proposera ici de montrer que dans Macbeth, la dissociation du geste et de la parole permet, par méta-théâtralité, de faire de la représentation du déclin de l’héroïsme le vecteur d’une réflexion sur certaines stratégies non mimétiques de création du suspense, de l’empathie et de la catharsis, dans le cadre d’un théâtre du début du dix-septième siècle qui fait la part belle au spectaculaire et à la pantomime. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
Shakespeare geste action héroïsme rhétorique art oratoire spectacle suspense empathie catharsis Shakespeare gesture action heroism rhetoric oratory pageant suspense empathy catharsis |
| spellingShingle |
Shakespeare geste action héroïsme rhétorique art oratoire spectacle suspense empathie catharsis Shakespeare gesture action heroism rhetoric oratory pageant suspense empathy catharsis Guéron, Claire “Never shake thy gory locks at me” (Macbeth, III.iv.50-51): Objecting to Gestures in Macbeth |
| description |
Shakespeare's Macbeth displays a pattern of characters objecting to gestures, be it others' or their own. This includes Macbeth refusing to shake hands with his opponent before the battle, his words to Banquo's ghost quoted in the title above, Banquo's own puzzlement at the weird sisters' placing a finger over their lips, the doctor's suspicions at Lady Macbeth's rubbing her hands and sleepwalking, as well as Malcom's request that Macduff not pull his hat over his eyes. In many of these cases, gesture is pitted against speech, which seems to undermine the classically-derived ideal of "suit[ing] the word to the action, the action to the word" (Hamlet, 3.2.16-18). This essay will suggest that in Macbeth, speech/gesture dissociation meta-dramatically channels the play's representation of heroic decline into an exploration of non-mimetic ways of generating suspense, empathy, and catharsis, in keeping with the turn towards pantomime and pageantry that marked early seventeenth-century drama. |
| author |
Guéron, Claire |
| author_facet |
Guéron, Claire |
| author_sort |
Guéron, Claire |
| title |
“Never shake thy gory locks at me” (Macbeth, III.iv.50-51): Objecting to Gestures in Macbeth |
| title_short |
“Never shake thy gory locks at me” (Macbeth, III.iv.50-51): Objecting to Gestures in Macbeth |
| title_full |
“Never shake thy gory locks at me” (Macbeth, III.iv.50-51): Objecting to Gestures in Macbeth |
| title_fullStr |
“Never shake thy gory locks at me” (Macbeth, III.iv.50-51): Objecting to Gestures in Macbeth |
| title_full_unstemmed |
“Never shake thy gory locks at me” (Macbeth, III.iv.50-51): Objecting to Gestures in Macbeth |
| title_sort |
“never shake thy gory locks at me” (macbeth, iii.iv.50-51): objecting to gestures in macbeth |
| publisher |
Interfaces |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/interfaces.602 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/interfaces/602 |
| _version_ |
1877293791404097536 |