Front cover image for Shakespeare's courtly mirror : reflexivity and prudence in All's well that ends well

Shakespeare's courtly mirror : reflexivity and prudence in All's well that ends well

A leading premise of Haley's book is that modern psychological constructs are inadequate for understanding the courtly humanism dramatized by Shakespeare down to 1604. Renaissance culture knows nothing of the bourgeois subject of Locke, Freud, and Lacan. Shakespeare defines aristocratic identity in epic terms and presents not an autonomous individual but a hero whose persona is determined publicly in the "courtly mirror." That exemplary mirror, from Henry IV to Measure for Measure, reflects the heroic actions of rulers and courtiers. The historical self-awareness of Henry, Hal, and Brutus assumes a more contemporary aspect in the courtly self-consciousness of Hamlet, Duke Vincentio, and the three main characters of All's Well That Ends Well: Bertram, Helena, the King. The "reflexivity" in the title does not indicate the self-referentiality of language, nor does it refer to the traditional paradigm of consciousness implying stable self-knowledge. Courtly reflexivity is oriented toward praxis rather than introspection. Before taking action, the courtier or cortigiana - Helena is a good example - knows only that (s)he is not what (s)he is. The courtier's deliberation is guided by a reflexive, self-regulating prudence that is usually identified with honor or love. In All's Well, Shakespeare contrasts this self-providence or heroic prudence with Divine Providence, but he does so obliquely. While focusing exclusively upon a court which prizes worldly action, he sustains his contrast through a series of ironical allusions to Scripture. Beginning with a prologue on the problems raised by structural and theatrical interpretations of Bertram's role, Haley goes on to introduce his concept of reflexivity by way of an exchange with the new literary historicism. Chapters 1 to 3 follow the courtly debate over providence and honor, through Helena's triumph in act 2 to Bertram's deserting her. The collapse of her providential design coincides with the crisis of the sick King's honor - a crisis which Shakespeare describes alchemically, implying that alchemy, understood as reflexive chemistry, offers another mirror of the courtier's self-providence. Chapter 4, the center of the book, brings together historical providence and Boccaccian prudence (avvedimento) in the figure of Ahab, with whom Shakespeare compares both Bertram and the Hal of Henry V. Chapters 5 to 7 pursue Shakespeare's ironic parallel between biblical Providence and courtly prudence, examining specific scenes of self-judgment and self-betrayal in the Henriad and Measure for Measure, as well as in All's Well
Print Book, English, ©1993
University of Delaware Press ; Associated University Presses, Newark, London, ©1993
314 pages ; 24 cm
9780874134438, 0874134439
25048223
1. Bertram at Court
Proud, Scornful Boy
Fashioning the Courtier
The Courtier's Mirror and the Mirror of the Play
Vile Misprision
By Reflection
2. Providence
End Ere l Do Begin
Honor and Alchemy
An Equivocal Companion
The Fine's the Crown
The Luckiest Stars in Heaven
3. Helena's Love
The Melancholy Heroine
Inspired Merit
Eros versus Providence
Too Dear for My Possessing
4. Shakespeare and the Book of Kings
Avvedimento
Ahab
The Happy Few
5. "Merely Our Own Traitors"
This Even-Handed Justice
Self-Betrayal and Shame
Reflexivity or Revenge?
6. The Clown
A Shrewd Knave and an Unhappy
One Flesh
Clown versus Court
Wisdom and Foolish Words
7. The Courtly Mirror
Bertram's Great Compt
The Tinct and Multiplying Medicine
Doubly Won
All Yet Seems Well
Appendix: The Date of All's Well