Shakespeare's Dramatic Transactions

Shakespeares Dramatic Transactions uses conventions of performance criticismstaging and theatrical presentationto analyze seven major Shakespearean tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Richard II, and Richard III. As scholars and readers increasingly question the theoretical models used to describe the concepts of mimesis and representation, this book describes how the actors stage presentation affects the actors representational role and the ways in which viewers experience Shakespearean tragedy. Michael Mooney draws on the work of East German critic Robert Weimann and his concept of figurenpositionthe correlation between an actors stage location and the speech, action, and stylization associated with that positionto understand the actor/stage location relationship in Shakespeares plays. In his examination of the original staging of Shakespeares tragedies, Mooney looks at the traditional interplay between a downstage place and upstage location to describe the difference between non-illusionistic action (often staged near the audience) and the illusionistic, localized action that characterizes mimetic art. The innovative and insightful approach of Shakespeares Dramatic Transactions brings together the techniques of performance criticism and the traditional literary study of Shakespearean tragedy. In showing how the distinctions of stage location illuminate the interaction among language, representation, Mooneys compelling argument enhances our understanding of Shakespeare and the theater.