Abstract

This essay examines the interrelation of the concepts of cause, reason and motive as they are explored in Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar”. The frequency with which the words “cause” and “reason” recur in connection with Brutus, and the complexity of the manner in which the various meanings of the words are played off against one another, suggest that the thematic interest in the problem of defining human motivation is central to the concerns of the play as a whole and to the understanding of this character in particular. What is remarkable is that while Brutus insistently invokes reasons for his decision to kill Caesar he never actually gets around to specifying them in unequivocal terms, so that the audience is left frustrated in its desire to understand what it is that impels him. What Shakespeare would appear to be doing then is deliberately problematizing the issue of human motivation, tantalizingly holding out the prospect of explanatory closure without actually supplying it, so that what we are left with is a sense of the ultimate indecipherability of human conduct.

Autore Pugliese

• Lucking David Ian Clive

Tutti gli autori

• D. LUCKING

Titolo volume/Rivista

ENGLISH STUDIES

Anno di pubblicazione

2010

ISSN

0013-838X

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Numero di citazioni Scopus

Non Disponibile

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

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Settori ERC

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Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile