"For Such is a Friend Now": Reflection and Revision in Shakespeare's Comic Friendships

<p>In early modem England, "friendship" was a term both flexible and deeply fraught. It could apply to a wide range of relationships, including, for example, those between family members, lords and tenants, or male members of the aristocracy. The ideals associated with friendship at that time had a profound impact on the way that the relationship was represented both in a historical and literary sense. During that time, William Shakespeare crafted remarkable and resonating depictions of friendship which have endured the through the ages. The distinction between Shakespeare's work and the work of other early modem writers lies in the fact that Shakespeare, more than his contemporaries, tests all the tenets of friendship available in the early modem period. He ultimately rejects some of those principles and in the process creates his own unique vision of true friendship from the remnants of those models. It is a vision that comes closer to the classical philosophy of friendship than any other available in the early modem period, but also surpasses the ancient model by allowing friendship to blossom in new, unexpected, and radical ways.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Boudreaux, Leah Rainell

Contributors dc:contributor

• Joseph Navitsky
• Jameela Lares
• Nicolle Jordan

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/464

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1543