Allegorising Thought on the Shakespearean Stage

Explores Shakespeare's use of allegory as a privileged tool for making visible the inner workings of his characters' minds This study argues that Shakespeare turned staging problems into opportunities for complex characterisation by mobilising the semiotic potential of playhouse architecture, stage space, gestures, stage properties, performance style and audience participation. These features of production result in allegorical projections of the characters' thoughts, in a way that reflects early modern fascination with the hidden workings of the human mind. Through new readings, Allegorising Thought on the Shakespearean Stage expands and revitalizes the concept of 'stage allegory' beyond its association with medieval morality plays. Claire Guéron is Senior Lecturer at the University of Burgundy (Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté) in Dijon, France. Her research areas are early modern stage semiotics, the ethics of spectatorship and Shakespearean detective novels.