Thesis (Ph.D)--Boston University. / This study of Macbeth shows that ceremony and ceremonials contribute significantly to the total artistry of the play. The discussion centers attention on Shakespeare's use of ceremonial metaphor, the ceremonials of prayer and feasting, the courtesies of address and leave-taking, and the service and pageantry of Attendants, Messengers, Soldiers and Servants. It also calls attention to the wealth of ceremonial materials in Shakespeare's plays as a whole, and, whenever pertinent, briefly relates these materials to Shakespeare's development as an artist, to literary and stage traditions, to the work of other playwrights, and to the contemporary world view. The Appendix offers studies of the ceremonial of prayer in Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.
The first chapter defines ceremony and related terms, surveys the many forms of ceremony that appear in the plays, and illustrates the varied use Shakespeare makes of those forms. Emphasis falls on the ceremony found in poetry, music, and heraldry; in courtly, festival, military, and legal occasions; in rites ot prayer, christenings, weddings, and burials, and in such miscellaneous forms as vows, visions, conjuring, and memorials.
Thus ceremony and ceremonials share in the artistic unity of Macbeth, in the complexity of its materials, in the profound implications of its themes, and in the subtle harmony between its language and content.
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| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/19141 |
| Date | January 1962 |
| Creators | Setterberg, Ruth Elizabeth |
| Publisher | Boston University |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | Based on investigation of the BU Libraries' staff, this work is free of known copyright restrictions. |
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