Some Necessary Questions of the Play: A Stage-centered Analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet

Első borító
Bucknell University Press, 1994 - 171 oldal
In "For the Purposes of Defense," historian Gene A. Smith examines the politics and ideology of the fleet of small shallow-draft vessels commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson that dominated the United States Navy during the first two decades of the nineteenth century. Designed to maneuver and fight in coastal waters, the vessels had limited ability on the open seas. They were considered defensive rather than offensive craft and have become the focus of the white-water (coastal) - blue-water (seagoing) controversy as well as the navalist-antinavalist debate of the period. When examining the fleet, scholars have charged that Jefferson opposed the navy. He did not, although his most famous quote refers to "the ruinous folly of a navy." Instead, Jefferson was an economy-minded, astute politician who viewed the gunboats as part of a political-military policy rather than a naval program in itself. Gunboats were an economic and political alternative to the exorbitant costs of a blue-water navy. Their perceived initial costs would be small, and when not in use they could be hauled up and protected under cover, eliminating costly maintenance. Staffing them by a naval militia would further lessen their costs. Additionally, they were a defensive weapon that provided few opportunities for incidents at sea that might provoke war. They were also useful in revenue enforcement, suppressing piracy along the coastal frontier, checking the illegal slave trade and smuggling, as well as other nontraditional uses. Moreover, gunboat construction provided a unique political opportunity for the Jefferson administration. Gunboats could be built throughout the country, allowing the distribution of contracts beyond the regular centers of naval activity and to those areas supporting Republican politics.

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Tartalomjegyzék

Introduction
13
Space and Time
25
Space and Scrutiny in Hamlet
27
Taking Up the Past Hamlet and Time
47
Theatrical Text
67
Put Your Discourse into Some Frame Hamlet and the Uses of Wit
69
About My Brains Hamlets Soliloquies
91
Theatrical Expectations
109
Body Actor and Character in Hamlet
111
Issues of Culture and Genre
131
Notes
151
Works Cited
163
Index
169
Copyright

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