Shakespeare's Annus Mirabilis: Some Structural Aspects of Coriolanus, Timon of Athens and Pericles

Abstract

<p>An investigation of seven aspects of the structure of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, Timon of Athens and Pericles, as a means to understanding the dramatic unity and coherence of the plays. The study is essentially the prolegomena to a more detailed discussion both of those three plays and of those which followed them, and whose structure developed out of theirs. Coriolanus, Timon of Athens and Pericles are seen as the products of an eighteen-month period circa 1607-8, possessed in each case of an effective, integral dramatic structure. The topics selected for consideration to prove that thesis are as follows: <ol> <li>The relationship between the hero and fortune, with particular attention to the patterning of events within the play. This central topic forms the bulk of the first half of the study.</li> <li>The hero's language: rhetoric and a public mode of address. </li> <li>The soliloquy of self-delusion. </li> <li>The use of "sets" of characters, or actions seemingly distinct from the main action. </li> <li>Narrator and observer figures. </li> <li>Formal movement (a): pageants, masques, feasts and songs.</li> <li>Formal movement (b): speeches which give moments of stasis within scenes.</li> </ol></p>