Abstract
This article examines the act of making an entrance as a constitutive but long-neglected formal device of drama. Against an Aristotelian view that considers plot the central dramatic device, it draws attention to the fact that dramatic texts are composed of entrances and arrivals. It starts from the premise that appearing is a political and rhetorical act through which a character takes shape in public, yet it is also a crisis of figuration, whose success and outcome are all but certain. As the article demonstrates using examples from antiquity and Shakespeare, dramatic entrances produce questionable shapes, whose formal, semiotic, and ontological nature is instable. Dramatic texts thereby explore the liminal zone between on and off, nothing and something, in which dramatic figuration takes place or fails.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callSimilar Papers
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
