Julius Caesar (Vol. 63) - William O. Scott (essay date 1988)
William O. Scott (essay date 1988)
SOURCE: “The Speculative Eye: Problematic Self-Knowledge in Julius Caesar,” in Shakespeare Survey, Vol. 40, 1988, pp. 77-89.
[In the following essay, Scott considers Shakespeare's ironic treatment of self-knowledge in Julius Caesar.]
Terry Eagleton began his early book on Shakespeare and Society by quoting from Ulysses' effort to draw Achilles into action in act 3, scene 3 of Troilus and Cressida; at Ulysses' urging, Achilles remarked on the notion that we see ourselves only by reflection:
The beauty that is borne here in the face The bearer knows not, but commends itself To others' eyes … For speculation turns not to itself Till it hath travel'd and is mirror'd there Where it may see itself
and Ulysses continued,
no man is the lord of anything, Though in and of him there be much consisting, Till he communicate his parts to others...
[The entire page is 8369 words long]
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