When Troy Fell: Shakespeare's Iconography of Sorrow and Survival

Authors

John Doebler, Arizona State University

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, the first paragraph of the essay follows:

In a theater without curtains, clearing the stage of a dead body is always a problem. Shakespeare turned his solution toward the iconic in 2 Henry VI. When Young Clifford finds his aged father newly slain by York, he lifts the body upon his shoulders:

Come, thou new ruin of old Clifford's house:

As did Aeneas old Anchises bear,

So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders;

But then Aeneas bare a living load-

Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine.

(V.ii.61-65).¹

Recommended Citation

Doebler, John (1985) "When Troy Fell: Shakespeare's Iconography of Sorrow and Survival," Comparative Drama: Vol. 19: Iss. 4, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol19/iss4/3