Tragic Passions from Shakespeare to Verdi

(October 24, 2009) Stanford Associate Professor of English, Blair Hoxby discusses how dramatists and composers write tragedies, they depict strong passions like fear, rage, and pity and elusive moods like melancholy. But how they have understood the physical and psychic basis of these emotions has changed with revolutions in psychology and medicine. This class will show how understanding the emotions in historical terms can deepen our appreciation of great theater from Shakespeare to Verdi.

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Category:

Education

Tags:

• English
• humanities
• art
• medicine
• theater
• philosophy
• tragedy
• passion
• spiritual
• mind
• good
• bad
• brain
• chemistry
• four humors
• balance
• nature
• taboo
• ancient Greek
• human body
• complexion
• blood
• yellow bile
• phlegm
• black bile
• rape
• mutilation