Shakespeare’in Hamlet Oyununda Erken Modern Dönemin Duygu Anlayışı: Oyuncunun Hecuba Konuşmasında Mizaçlar, Bedenler ve Tutkular

Duyguların bedensel mizacın dengelerini değiştirebilen güçleri dikkate alındığında, Shakespeare döneminde tiyatro oyunları, Stephen Gosson ve Philip Stubbes gibi erken modern eleştirmenler tarafından ciddi biçimde saldırıya uğramıştır. Stephen Gosson’a göre, duygusal ve fizyolojik etkileri yüzünden tiyatro gösterileri, seyircinin rasyonel düşünme yetisini ve değerlendirme kapasitesini zayıflatarak baltalamaktadır ve bu nedenle yasaklanmalıdır. Bu makale, Shakespeare’in Hamlet oyunundaki Perde I, sahne ii’de geçen oyuncunun dikkate değer konuşması üzerine ilginç bir araştırmadır. Oyuncunun Hecuba üzerine konuşması ve Hamlet’in buna reaksiyonu (tepkisi) yoluyla, bu çalışma sadece karakterlerin tiyatroya yönelik tavırlarını tartışmakla kalmayarak, aynı zamanda erken modern tiyatro üzerindeki fikir çekişmelerini ve tiyatronun insanın bedeni, zihni ve tutkuları arasındaki dengeyi değiştirerek yozlaştırdığı düşüncesinin yaygın olduğu bir zamanda Shakespeare’in tiyatro sanatının duygusal potansiyel gücünün arkasında dimdik duruşunu tartışmaktadır.

Reflections on Early Modern Understanding of Affects in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Humors, Bodies and Passions in the Player’s Hecuba Speech

Considered to be affective mediums exercising powers changing the humoral balances of bodies, theatre plays have been severely attacked on the grounds that they provoke strong emotions by early modern critics such as Stephen Gosson and Philip Stubbes in the Shakespearean period. According to Stephen Gosson, for instance, due to their emotional and physiological impact theatre performances weakened and undermined audiences’ capacities to reason and judge; and thus, needed to be prohibited altogether. This study provides a detailed analysis of the Hecuba speech (II, ii) in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Through the Player’s and Hamlet’s reactions to the Hecuba-speech, it will discuss the characters’ attitudes towards theatre and comment on early modern theatre debates. The study will further discuss William Shakespeare’s stand on the affective potential of theatre in times when theatre plays have been considered contagious and altering the balance between minds, passions and bodies.

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