Alchemy, Paracelsianism, and Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (Hardcover, 1st ed. 2022)

This book explores the role of alchemy, Paracelsianism, and Hermetic philosophy in one of Shakespeare's last plays, The Winter's Tale. A perusal of the vast literary and iconographic repertory of Renaissance alchemy reveals that this late play is imbued with several topoi, myths, and emblematic symbols coming from coeval alchemical, Paracelsian, and Hermetic sources. It also discusses the alchemical significance of water and time in the play's circular and regenerative pattern and the healing role of women. All the major symbols of alchemy are present in Shakespeare's play: the intertwined serpents of the caduceus, the chemical wedding, the filius philosophorum, and the so-called rex chymicus. This book also provides an in-depth survey of late Renaissance alchemy, Paracelsian medicine, and Hermetic culture in the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages. Importantly, it contends that The Winter's Tale, in symbolically retracing the healing pattern of the rota alchemica and in emphasising the Hermetic principles of unity and concord, glorifies King James's conciliatory attitude.

General

Imprint:	Palgrave Macmillan
Country of origin:	Switzerland
Series:	Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine
Release date:	October 2022
First published:	2022
Authors:	Martina Zamparo
Dimensions:	210 x 148 x 29mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	377
Edition:	1st ed. 2022
ISBN-13:	978-3-03-105166-1
Categories:	Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Theatre, drama > General Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > General Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Plays & playwrights > General Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General Books > Humanities > History > British & Irish history > General Books > History > British & Irish history > General Promotions
LSN:	3-03-105166-1
Barcode:	9783031051661

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