Shakespeare uses metadrama as a rhetorical vehicle for responding to antitheatricalism; realistic drama and staged theatricality therefore coexist in his plays. The cultural context of the early modern era, especially its antitheatrical rhetoric and the predominance of theatricality throughout the structures of its society, illumines the interaction of metadrama and antitheatricality Shakespeare's plays, particularly Troilus and Cressida and King Lear. By failing to consider adequately the unique nature of the emergence of early modern theater and the equally distinct reaction to its popularity, previous scholarship considering antitheatricality has exhibited essentialism and a universalizing tendency similar to that of the antitheatricalists. The paucity of specifically protheatrical response in prose to the immense antitheatrical work of polemicists such as William Prynne and to antitheatrical tracts and publications signals the presence of protheatrical response within the literature of the stage: its plays. Metadramatic critics have noted that metadrama provides a subtle means of establishing a connection between actors and their audience and that it serves as a means of interrogating various deployments of theatrical power and the motives implied by its use. Troilus and Cressida celebrates, interrogates, and reproves the theater, engaging the proponents and detractors of the theater through depictions of Ulysses and Pandarus as effective and ineffective interior directors, respectively. Ulysses's militaristic drive toward victory at all costs demonstrates his affinity to the figure of the stage Machiavel, while his seemingly inexplicable hostility toward Achilles similarly marks his connection to the figure of the Vice. Pandarus's relation to theatricality highlights the negative associations of theater and prostitution apparent in the works of the antitheatricalists. His self-delusory propensity to motivate others to actions to which they are already predisposed mocks and calls into question the assertion that theater exerts motivational power over its audience. Literary critics considering King Lear observe that identity loss underpins the tragic process apparent in the plays' protagonists. Depictions of staged theatrical ability and inability and positive depictions of antitheatrical Puritanism pervade King Lear. The deployment of theatricality in the play both emphasizes its creative and soteriological function and embodies the harmful potential of dramaturgical art.

This study examines the Cultural Trauma associated with the Jedwabne pogrom, as portrayed in three Polish newspapers. The essay seeks to answer the following questions: How did the chosen three Polish newspapers with varying ideological and political views depict the discussion about the Jedwabne pogrom in their articles in the years 2016-2018? In what ways do these usages and representations reflect or challenge the dominant narratives of Polish national mythology? How has the discussion on Polish antisemitism in relation to the Jedwabne pogrom changed after the conservative Law and Justice party came to power in 2015? The source material used consists of 45 newspaper pieces from Gazeta Wyborcza, Tygodnik Powszechny, and Polonia Christianapublished between 2016-2018. The theory applied was inspired by Barbara Törnquist-Plewa's studies which originate from the theory of Cultural Trauma and Collective Memory and Geneviève Zubrzycki's theory of National Mythology. The method used to analyze the source material could be best described as a qualitative close reading of the sources, where the theory of cultural trauma with its associated diagnosed coping strategies and the perspective of national mythology is used as an analytical lens to highlight how the Jedwabne pogrom discourse is being portrayed intertextually. The study's results found two camps with different stances on the topic concerning the Jedwabne pogrom and Polish antisemitism, namely, the pro-Gross/identity-transformative camp and the anti-Gross/Gross-skeptical camp. The presented two camps used two different strategies concerning the pogrom debate, namely, the politics of shame and the politics of pride, which suggested a laboriously political state of the discourse in the years 2016-2018. The resulting politicization of these two political strategies was explained by their link to cultural trauma responses used by the camps conforming to Törnquist-Plewa's results. The study found that the national myth of Polish messianism was used in the source material. However, it was predominantly used mindfully by the newspaper's authors in an attempt to combat this national myth, which was tied to a cultural trauma response and political usage. The study found that the debate on Polish antisemitism tied to the Jedwabne pogrom has regressed after the Law and Justice party came to power in 2015, as their political meddling with state institutions sabotaged the Polish scholarly debate and effectively polluted the public debate in various scandals