'Timon of Athens' (1606?) and 'Timon' (1602?): Rhetorical and ritualistic violence

摘要

This article seeks to explore representations of theatrical anger in William Shakespeare and ThomasMiddleton’s Timon of Athens (1606?) and a play written by students from one of the Inns ofCourt, the Inner Temple, entitled Timon, written and performed at the Inn circa 1602. The articleis concerned with two types of violence exhibited in both plays; rhetorical violence and ritualisticviolence. Early modern rhetorical violence is self-consciously performative and manipulativecompared to ritualistic violence which is unbridled and emasculating; a bodily performance thatcannot be controlled via self-regulation. By exploring cultural perceptions of anger, this articleattempts to account for the range of violence performed by the two Timons.