“An art / That Nature makes”: The Alchemical Conception of Art and Nature in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale

Abstract

Questo saggio si propone di discutere il ruolo di arte e natura in uno degli ultimi drammi di Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, alla luce della simbologia alchemica rinascimentale. Partendo dal celebre dibattito tra Perdita e Polissene, dal quale sembra emergere una visione del rapporto tra arte e natura riconducibile alle teorie alchemiche note all’epoca, la discussione includerà anche il significato del tempo e dell’acqua. Presentando un mondo in cui “cose che muoiono” sono la fonte di “cose appena nate”, il romance shakespeariano sembra seguire le tappe dell’opus alchymicum, noto come solve et coagula, ovvero ‘distruggere’ per ‘ricreare’.

DOI: 10.17456/SIMPLE-80

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