In light of the well-established presence of Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, I will focus on the villain of the play, Don John, and emphasise the hitherto unacknowledged similarities between his character and the melancholic courtiers against whom Castiglione had warned in his work. In so doing, I will underscore how Shakespeare did not limit to a simplistic construct of im-itation and adaptation of his Italian model, but proved to be well aware of the contem-porary debates surrounding the spreading and the dangerous effects of melancholy

"I have decreed not to sing in my cage”. Melancholy at Court from Castiglione to Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing

Ragni, Cristiano
2021-01-01

Abstract

In light of the well-established presence of Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, I will focus on the villain of the play, Don John, and emphasise the hitherto unacknowledged similarities between his character and the melancholic courtiers against whom Castiglione had warned in his work. In so doing, I will underscore how Shakespeare did not limit to a simplistic construct of im-itation and adaptation of his Italian model, but proved to be well aware of the contem-porary debates surrounding the spreading and the dangerous effects of melancholy
2021
William Shakespeare
Baldassare Castiglione
Uncourtliness
Melancholy
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/1056127
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