Trickster Geographies in Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors"

Monica O'Neil, Purdue University

Abstract

Because Shakespeare uses a wide spectrum of tricksters—from the merely mischievous Autolycus in Winter’s Tale to the irredeemably wicked Iago in Othello—Comedy of Errors is often overlooked when evaluating Shakespeare’s use of trickery. Indeed, the main characters of this comedy are confused victims of circumstance rather than deliberate deceivers, but that is precisely what makes the idea of the trickery in Comedy of Errors so provocative. Rather than a an archetypal trickster, there are instead three trickster geographies, the Mediterranean, Ephesus, and the marketplace, that affect the people within their borders, compelling them to take part in the deceit, however unwittingly. What results from the diffuse and disembodied trickster geographies is a series of inversions that threaten to destroy identities, relationships, and social order.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Ross, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Theater|British and Irish literature

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