[PDF] the New Forms (Italian Edition) by Italo Storto at Arts-Photography

Description

From one of the countryrsquo;s foremost experts on Shakespeare and theatre arts; actor; director; and master teacher Tina Packer offers an explorationmdash;fierce; funny; fearlessmdash;of the women of Shakespearersquo;s plays. A profound; and profoundly illuminating; book that gives us the playwrightrsquo;s changing understanding of the feminine and reveals some of his deepest insights. Packer; with expert grasp and perception; constructs a radically different understanding of power; sexuality; and redemption. Beginning with the early comedies (The Taming of the Shrew; Two Gentlemen of Verona; The Comedy of Errors); Packer shows that Shakespeare wrote the women of these plays as shrews to be tamed or as sweet little things with no definable independent thought; virgins on the pedestal. The women of the histories (the three parts of Henry VI; Richard III) are; Packer shows; much more interesting; beginning with Joan of Arc; possibly the first woman character Shakespeare ever created. In her opening scene; shersquo;s wonderfully alivemdash;a virgin; true; sent from heaven; a country girl going to lead men bravely into battle; the kind of girl Shakespeare could have known and loved in Stratford. Her independent resolution collapses within a few scenes; as Shakespeare himself suddenly turns against her; and she yields to the common caricature of his culture and becomes Joan the Enemy; the Warrior Woman; the witch; a woman to be feared and destroyed . . . As Packer turns her attention to the extraordinary Juliet; the author perceives a large shift. Suddenly Shakespearersquo;s women have depth of character; motivation; understanding of life more than equal to that of the men; once Juliet has led the way; the plays are never the same again. As Shakespeare ceases to write about women as predictable caricatures and starts writing them from the inside; embodying their voices; his women become as dimensional; spirited; spiritual; active; and sexual as any of his male characters. Juliet is just as passionately in love as Romeomdash;risking everything; initiating marriage; getting into bed; fighting courageously when her parents threaten to disown hermdash;and just as brave in facing death when she discovers Romeo is dead. And; wondering if Shakespeare himself fell in love (Packer considers with whom; and what she may have been like); the author observes that from Juliet on; Shakespeare writes the women as if he were a woman; giving them desires; needs; ambition; insight.Women of Will follows Shakespearersquo;s development as a human being; from youth to enlightened maturity; exploring the spiritual journey he undertook. Packer shows that Shakespearersquo;s imagination; mirrored and revealed in his female characters; develops and deepens until finally the women; his creative knowledge; and a sense of a larger spiritual good come together in the late plays; making clear that when women and men are equal in status and sexual passion; they canmdash;and domdash;change the world. Part master class; part brilliant analysismdash;Women of Will is all inspiring discovery.From the Hardcover edition.