Shakespearean Double Entendre

Lecure by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. em. Elisabeth Bronfen, Universität Zürich

In this lecture, Stanley Cavell’s treatment of dialogue in Hollywood comedies as a philosophical concern will be applied to selected passages from Shakespeare’s works. The focus will be on how these passages operate on multiple levels. In some cases, the dramatic characters are aware that they are speaking ambiguously and employ ambiguity as a strategy. In other cases, a misunderstanding is presented to us. In each instance, however, spontaneous speech is not merely codified. All dialogues operate with an ironic distance between what is spoken at the level of the plot and what we, as readers or viewers, recognize.

An event organized by the “Inquiry-oriented Dialogues” research colloquium of the Department of German Studies at the University of Freiburg.