The Genius of Shakespeare’s “Plagiarisms”. Case Studies: 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'

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Codrin Liviu Cuțitaru

Abstract

This paper aims at exploring the cultural ambiguity which William Shakespeare remarkably extracts from the sources of his major plays, turning it, eventually, into an essential instrument of the tragic and the tragedy. What in normal/modern circumstances would easily count as “plagiarism”, becomes here, paradoxically, a token of artistic genius and brilliant creation. Our examples will be from the four outstanding tragedies—Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. The sources selected by our research will be Saxo Grammaticus’s Histoires tragiques, Cinthio’s Un Capitano Moro, the Celtic legend Leir of Britain and, obviously, Holinshed’s Chronicles. We shall try to demonstrate that the so-called cultural ambiguity adopts various forms in Shakespeare’s plays, going from the clash of civilisations (Hamlet and Othello) to the crisis of identity (Lear and Macbeth).

Article Details

How to Cite
Cuțitaru, C. L. “The Genius of Shakespeare’s ‘Plagiarisms’. Case Studies: ’Hamlet’, ’Othello’, ’King Lear’ and ’Macbeth’”. Linguaculture, vol. 8, no. 1, June 2017, pp. 63-71, doi:10.1515/lincu-2017-0006.
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Articles
Author Biography

Codrin Liviu Cuțitaru, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi

Codrin Liviu Cuţitaru is Professor of English and American Literature at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi and Ph.D. adviser. He was a guest researcher at the University of Texas (USA, Austin, 1993), a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of Arizona (USA, Tucson, 1993-1994), a guest professor of English and American Literature at the University of Freiburg (Germany, 1995 and 2000), at the University of Sheffield (UK, 2002) and at the University of London (UK, 2009). He is the author of books on literary history, critical theory, criticism, mentalities: Istoria depersonalizată, Editura Universităţii “ Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iaşi, 1997, Jurnalul Vestului Sălbatic. Un studiu de mentalităţi, Editura Junimea, Iaşi, 1999, Transcendentalism şi ascendentalism. Proiect de fenomenologie culturală a romantismului american, Editura Universităţii “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iaşi, 2001, The Victorian Novel. A Critical Approach, Editura Universităţii “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iaşi, 2004, Reprezentări critice, Editura Standart, Iaşi, 2004, Istoreme, Editura Institutul European, Iaşi, 2009, Prezentul Discontinuu, Editura Institutul European, Iași, 2015, and of numerous articles in various national and international journals and academic volumes.

References

Belleforest, François de. Histoires Tragiques. Paris: Laurens Chancelier, 1564. Print

Cinthio (Giovanni Battista Giraldi). Gli Hecatomithi. Mondovi: Roma, 1565. Print.

Grammaticus, Saxo. Gesta Danorum. Books I-IX. Transl. by Oliver Elton. London: Marble Books, 1905. Print.

Holinshed, Raphael. The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. London: Marble Books, 1922. Print.

Monmouth, Geoffrey of. Historia Regum Britanniae/History of the Kings of Britain. Bilingual Edition. London: Marble Books, 1938. Print.

Shakespeare, William. The Complete Works. Volume 2. Ed. Avid Bevington. London: Scott, Foresman & Company, 1980. Print.

Secondary SourcesEliot, T. S. “Hamlet and his Problems”. Critical Theory Since Plato. Ed Hazard Adams. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1992. Print.

French, Marilyn. “The Late Tragedies”. Shakespearean Tragedy. Ed. John Drakakis. London & New York: Longman, 1992. Print.

Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Representation. Transl. by E.F.J. Payne. New York: Dover Publications, 1969. Print.