Re-thinking the Metaphor of Shadow: From Plato to Shakespeare and Zeffirrelli

Carmen Dominte

doi:10.31178/ubr.10.2.6

Abstract

In any work of art, from literary to visual, theatrical and cinematographic, the presence of shadow, most of times associated with the presence of light, emerges as a particularly motivated sign. The very act of placing a shadow in a specific context makes the shadow subject to the same area of interpretation as the rest of the artwork. Within each artistic field, there are lots of meanings associated to shadow: from philosophical, theological and psychological to symbolic and metaphorical. According to the artistic medium it belongs to, the metaphor of shadow is usually engaged in creating and modifying the atmosphere, in visualising images, in diminishing or increasing the dramatic intensity and mainly in accumulating meaning. The present study intends to explore the transposition of the metaphor of shadow from its allegorical roots, as in Plato’s allegory of the cave, into new artistic environments such as literary and cinematographic. Be it employed in the service of an idea, as in Shakespeare’s Hamlet or used for creating a visual and cinematic effect as in Zeffirelli’s homonymous film, the metaphor of shadow adapted its means of expression in order to extend the area of significances.

Highlights

In any work of art, from literary to visual, theatrical and cinematographic, the presence of shadow, most of times associated with the presence of light, emerges as a motivated sign
Transposed from a literary into a visual-spatial background, the metaphor of shadow becomes engaged into the process of modifying the whole atmosphere, of increasing or diminishing the dramatic intensity, of accumulating meaning that may further generate new effects for each time it is used in a cinematographic representation of a literary fragment
The shadows of the persons moving behind the prisoners are regarded as visual representations of the carriers, they are not perceived as shadows of something since the prisoners do not have any relation to light as light, since they do not see the fire that casts the light. (Heidegger 20) From this point of view, for the prisoners, all the shadows they perceive represent reality and not representations of reality88except the freed prisoner for whom the shadows stand for reduced representations of actual persons. (Plato 242)

Summary

Introduction

In any work of art, from literary to visual, theatrical and cinematographic, the presence of shadow, most of times associated with the presence of light, emerges as a motivated sign. The present study intends to explore the transposition of the metaphor of shadow from its allegorical roots, as in Plato’s allegory of the cave, into new artistic environments such as literary and cinematographic Be it employed in the service of an idea, as in Shakespeare’s Hamlet or used for creating a visual and cinematic effect as in Zeffirelli’s homonymous film, the metaphor of shadow adapted its means of expression in order to extend the area of significances. (Plato 240) The only person that was freed managed to escape the cave and to get outside into the sunlight where he started to experience the meanings of the new world He became able to perceive certain aspects of the enlightened objects or persons as real, in the true meaning of the term. The highest reality is, the most ideal it becomes

Objectives

Conclusion