Article published In:
Gesture, ritual and memoryEdited by Paul Bouissac
[Gesture 6:2] 2006
► pp. 241–259
Edited by Paul Bouissac
[Gesture 6:2] 2006
► pp. 241–259
Actors and the body
Meta-theatrical rhetoric in Shakespeare
The ways in which the performing of gesture is inscribed into the very texts of Shakespeare’s plays constitutes a “meta-theatrical” and “meta-gestural” discourse which this article analyses with reference to Hamlet, Othello, The Winter’s Tale and Twelfth Night. Shakespeare is shown to be a “gestural writer”, well versed in the rhetorical tradition and sensitive to the subtleties of body language within and without the world of stage.
Keywords: performance, metalanguage, gesture, facial expression, emotions, acting, theatre
Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
Astington, John H.
2009. Shakespeare’s Actors. Literature Compass 6:5 ► pp. 1031 ff. 
Kipp, Michael & Jean-Claude Martin
2009. 2009 3rd International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction and Workshops, ► pp. 1 ff.
Martin, Randall
2018. Evolutionary Naturalism and Embodied Ecology in Shakespearian Performance (with a Scene from King John). In Shakespeare Survey 71, ► pp. 147 ff.
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