Book contents
- Shakespeare and Virtue
- Shakespeare and Virtue
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Shakespeare and Virtue Ethics
- Part II Shakespeare’s Virtues
- Chapter 11 The Four Cardinal Virtues
- Chapter 12 The Three Theological Virtues
- Chapter 13 Prudence
- Chapter 14 Friendship
- Chapter 15 Patience
- Chapter 16 Care
- Chapter 17 Hospitality
- Chapter 18 Respect
- Chapter 19 Chastity
- Chapter 20 Wit
- Chapter 21 Service
- Chapter 22 Humility
- Chapter 23 Kindness
- Chapter 24 Stewardship and Resilience
- Chapter 25 Cognitive Virtue and Global Ecosociability
- Chapter 26 Trust
- Chapter 27 Being “Free” as a Virtue
- Part III Shakespeare and Global Virtue Traditions
- Part IV Virtuous Performances
- Works Cited
- Index
Chapter 11 - The Four Cardinal Virtues
Caesar’s Mantle and Practical Wisdom
from Part II - Shakespeare’s Virtues
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2023
- Shakespeare and Virtue
- Shakespeare and Virtue
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Shakespeare and Virtue Ethics
- Part II Shakespeare’s Virtues
- Chapter 11 The Four Cardinal Virtues
- Chapter 12 The Three Theological Virtues
- Chapter 13 Prudence
- Chapter 14 Friendship
- Chapter 15 Patience
- Chapter 16 Care
- Chapter 17 Hospitality
- Chapter 18 Respect
- Chapter 19 Chastity
- Chapter 20 Wit
- Chapter 21 Service
- Chapter 22 Humility
- Chapter 23 Kindness
- Chapter 24 Stewardship and Resilience
- Chapter 25 Cognitive Virtue and Global Ecosociability
- Chapter 26 Trust
- Chapter 27 Being “Free” as a Virtue
- Part III Shakespeare and Global Virtue Traditions
- Part IV Virtuous Performances
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
This chapter considers the role of Shakespearean theater in fostering the cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, temperance, and courage. Shakespeare offers an especially compelling site for investigating this topic in act 3.2 of Julius Caesar. Here, Mark Antony addresses the plebeians in the wake of Caesar’s assassination using the latter’s bloody mantle (i.e. cloak) as an object lesson in civic and moral failure. This scene, the chapter argues, has something important to teach us about the theatricality of the cardinal virtues, including, especially, the object-specific way in which particular things enable general moral insights. As this suggests, the cardinal virtues do not so much offer scripts for the cultivation of inner qualities as they do a community-oriented set of practices grounded in the capacity of humans to think, feel, and discern together. Put another way, the cardinal virtues are a social logic or dynamic, rather than personality traits or individual moral attributes. Like theater itself, they provide a linked set of frameworks for physical, emotional, and ethical participation in the world.
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- Shakespeare and VirtueA Handbook, pp. 113 - 124Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023