In a word: the importance of Shakespeare's subtexts

Lorelei Cederstrom

doi:10.14198/raei.1993.6.03

Abstract

The subtexts of Shakespeare's plays often provide surprisingly accurate insights not only into the central themes of the plays, but also a greater understanding of the unifying elements. The subtexts from a representative sampling of plays from each of the major periods reveals that such subtextual elements as repeated words, near synonyms and recurrent images are fairly accurate assessors of the playwright's central intent. The best way to approach the plays is through a method that considers not only the text and plot, but the poetic devices that arise by considering the subtext. This study explores the nature-nothing subtext in King Lear, the seeing-seeming disparity in Othello, the repeated references to chains and gold in A Comedy of Errors, the explorations of fortune in As You Like It, the persistent emphasis on words and voices in Coriolanus, and the subtextual significance of wonder and rebellion in The Tempest. In each case, attention to the sound devices, repetitions and patterns of imagery yields a more thorough understanding of the play under consideration than the standard imagery studies or plot analyses.

Highlights

The subtexts of Shakespeare's plays often provide surprisingly accurate insights into the central themes of the plays, and a greater understanding of the unifying elements
The subtext is a part of the poetry of the text which lies beneath the plot, including the patterns of imagery, the sound devices— words which are repeated so often that they take on a life of their own as sound, rather like a leit motif in music—and all the connotations that arise from the juxtaposition of the repeated words and images in new contexts
Wilson Knight and Caroline Spurgeon had written about the patterns of imagery in the play, Brook carried the idea one step further, paying particular attention to repeated words, or words that appear in new contexts in different parts of the play

Summary

Introduction

The subtexts of Shakespeare's plays often provide surprisingly accurate insights into the central themes of the plays, and a greater understanding of the unifying elements. Lago notes "The Moor is of a free and open nature/That thinks men honest that but seem to be so." The action of the play focuses upon Iago's use of this idea.

Results

Conclusion