A Context-Based Investigation of the ‘Jewel’ Crux in The Comedy…

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DC Field	Value
dc.identifier	ECF_article_1079
dc.title	A Context-Based Investigation of the ‘Jewel’ Crux in The Comedy of Errors
dc.contributor.author	De Scarpis Valerio
dc.publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing
dc.type	Research Article
dc.language.iso	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-occidentale/2017/1/a-context-based-investigation-of-the-jewel-crux-in/
dc.description.abstract	This paper addresses a frustrating crux found in a passage of the textus receptus (the 1623 First Folio, the only substantive text for Errors). Editors have tried to make sense of the conundrum of this passage by applying emendations. Attention to the rhetorical strategies employed by the Author and to the surrounding context of discourse can throw some light on the intended meaning: equivocation is one of the most effective rhetorical devices available for comedy and rhetorical figures pertaining to the field of aequivocatio are at the grass-roots of this drama. Punning offers a solution to the hermeneutical puzzle of the passage by helping to unravel the crux: it participates in a compositional strategy that encompasses the entire play. Quibbling and double entendre, far from being superficial expedients to elicit humour, here must be understood as constituting a fundamental productive means to develop the play’s rationale and to flesh-out the personality of its characters.
dc.relation.ispartof	Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
dc.relation.ispartof	Vol. 51 \| September 2017
dc.issued	2017-09-28
dc.dateAccepted	2017-05-12
dc.dateSubmitted	2017-03-06
dc.identifier.issn
dc.identifier.eissn	2499-1562
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.identifier.doi	10.14277/2499-1562/AnnOc-51-17-2
dc.peer-review	yes
dc.subject	Amphibology
dc.subject	Amphibology
dc.subject	Crux
dc.subject	Crux
dc.subject	Errors
dc.subject	Errors
dc.subject	Shakespeare
dc.subject	Shakespeare

Research Article
open access peer reviewed

A Context-Based Investigation of the ‘Jewel’ Crux in The Comedy of Errors

Valerio De Scarpis Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia

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abstract

This paper addresses a frustrating crux found in a passage of the textus receptus (the 1623 First Folio, the only substantive text for Errors). Editors have tried to make sense of the conundrum of this passage by applying emendations. Attention to the rhetorical strategies employed by the Author and to the surrounding context of discourse can throw some light on the intended meaning: equivocation is one of the most effective rhetorical devices available for comedy and rhetorical figures pertaining to the field of aequivocatio are at the grass-roots of this drama. Punning offers a solution to the hermeneutical puzzle of the passage by helping to unravel the crux: it participates in a compositional strategy that encompasses the entire play. Quibbling and double entendre, far from being superficial expedients to elicit humour, here must be understood as constituting a fundamental productive means to develop the play’s rationale and to flesh-out the personality of its characters.

Published

Sept. 28, 2017

Accepted

May 12, 2017

Submitted

March 6, 2017

Language

Keywords: Errors • Crux • Amphibology • Shakespeare

permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/2499-1562/AnnOc-51-17-2

Copyright: © 2017 Valerio De Scarpis. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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