Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Nancy A. Cluck

Critical Essay by Nancy A. Cluck

SOURCE: “Shakespearean Studies In Shame,” in Shakespeare Quarterly 36, No. 2, Summer, 1985, pp. 141-51.

In the following essay, Cluck defines shame and its place in Western culture by comparing Shakespeare's character Antony with his character Richard III. Cluck remarks that Richard is so intensely ashamed of his misshapen body that he seeks refuge in complete shamelessness and immorality.

Few human emotions are more distressing than those associated with shame. Though feelings such as anger, grief, fear, and even guilt can be equally painful, they are more easily expressed because they are more acceptable to Western society. Shame isolates the sufferer from social communication and drives him into hiding or into an attitude of shamelessness that serves as a defense mechanism. Recent psychological studies of the causes and manifestations of shame have deepened our understanding of the experience in our own lives and in literature. But shame exceeds psychological boundaries,...
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