Shakespeare was acutely aware of our intimate struggles with
aging. His dramatic characters either prosper or suffer according
to their relationship with maturity, and his sonnets eloquently
explore time's ravaging effects. "Wrinkled deep in time" is how the
queen describes herself in "Antony and Cleopatra," and at the end
of "King Lear," there is a tragic sense that both the king and
Gloucester have acquired a wisdom they otherwise lacked at the
beginning of the play. Even Juliet matures considerably before she
drinks Friar Lawrence's potion, and Macbeth and his wife
prematurely grow old from their murderous schemes.
Drawing on historical documents and the dramatist's own complex
depictions, Maurice Charney conducts an original investigation into
patterns of aging in Shakespeare, exploring the fulfillment or
distress of Shakespeare's characters in combination with their
mental and physical decline. Comparing the characterizations of
elderly kings and queens, older lovers, patriarchal men,
matriarchal women, and the senex--the stereotypical old man of
Roman comedy--with the history of life expectancy in Shakespeare's
England, Charney uncovers similarities and differences between our
contemporary attitudes toward aging and aging as it was understood
more than four hundred years ago. From this dynamic examination, a
new perspective on Shakespeare emerges, one that celebrates and
deepens our knowledge of his subtler themes and characters.
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