Make me not sighted like the Basilisk: vision and contagion in The Winter's Tale

Edited book (chapter)

Chalk, Darryl. 2014. "Make me not sighted like the Basilisk: vision and contagion in The Winter's Tale." Johnson, Laurie, Sutton, John and Tribble, Evelyn (ed.) Embodied cognition and Shakespeare's theatre: the early modern body-mind. Abingdon, OX. United Kingdom. Routledge. pp. 111-132
Chapter Title

Make me not sighted like the Basilisk: vision and contagion in The Winter's Tale

Book Chapter CategoryEdited book (chapter)
ERA Publisher ID3137
Book TitleEmbodied cognition and Shakespeare's theatre: the early modern body-mind
Authors
AuthorChalk, Darryl
EditorsJohnson, Laurie, Sutton, John and Tribble, Evelyn
Page Range111-132
SeriesRoutledge Studies in Shakespeare
Chapter Number6
Number of Pages22
Year2014
PublisherRoutledge
Place of PublicationAbingdon, OX. United Kingdom
ISBN9781138000759
9780203796160
Abstract

This chapter offers a potential resolution to two of the most vexing issues in a play that has been particularly troubling for many critics: the inexplicably sudden jealousy of Leontes and the perhaps equally perplexing – and arguably no less sudden – death of Mamillius. I suggest that both of these events can be understood in relation to theories of cognition and the passions at this time that construct the body-mind as vulnerable to pathogenic infiltration by images through its key sensory facility: the eyes. The Winter's Tale thus stages an example of contagion by image in its opening scenes.

KeywordsJacobean theatre; diseases of the mind; mental health; body language; jealousy; cognition
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020360403. Drama, theatre and performance studies
470530. Stylistics and textual analysis
470514. Literary theory
Public Notes

Copyright 2014 Taylor & Francis. Permanent restricted access to published version due to publisher copyright policy.

Byline AffiliationsSchool of Arts and Communication
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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