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16
Introduction
Plato)sdistinctionisnotonlycrude;itmaybemisleading.Asthe
epicisnotpurenarration,sodramaisnotpureimitation.However,al-
thoughweneedtoforegodreamsofconceptualpurism,itstillmakes
sense,inmyopinion,todistinguishbetweentime-languageusedfor
purposesofrepresentation(mundanereferencestotheclockandthe
calendar)andtime-languageusedforstrictlydramaticpurposes,i.e.as
amodeofbehaviour.“TodayisThursday.”isdifferentfrom“I)llmeet
youtomorrowmorningandwe)llfight.”Bothutterances,despitethe
obviousdifferencebetweenmereinformingandactualdoing(inthelat-
terutterancethecharacterofthespeaker“shinesthrough,”andthere-
forewehavehereaninstanceofimitationandactionratherthanmere
speaking),aremundanebothbecausetheyrefertoconcretetimeand
becausewedonotdetectineitheranelementof“poetry.”When
Claudio,ayoungmaninMuchAdoAboutNothingimpatienttobemar-
ried,says:“Timegoesoncrutchestilllovehaveallitsrites”(II.i.334)
1theutterancestrikesusaspoetical(duetothepersonification)be-
sidesthefactthatitmay(anddoes)fulfila“mundane”function.
Shakespeare)splaysarespokenplays;inthem,speakingalwaysaccom-
paniesaction(thewrittentextcanbecomparedtoamusicalscore;
aperformancehasbeenencodedinit),but,moreover,thereisinthem
asurplusofthepoeticalelement.Weshallbereferringtothiselement
as“rhetoric”;andsoClaudio)slinejustquotedcanbecalledanexam-
pleofShakespeare)srhetoricoftime.Weshallreturnbrieflytothisto-
wardstheendofthisintroduction.
6.Timeofthecharactersandtimeoftheaudience.
Thedistinctionbetweentellingandshowingleadsusbeyondrepre-
sentedtimeandintothesphereofexperience.Wecanspeakaboutex-
periencingtimeinadoublesense:Timedramatically(verballyand
mimetically)representedistimelivedbythecharacters;aMacbethor
anOpheliamaydecideto“seize”anopportunitythatpresentsitselfor
togiveuponaproverbiallyfleetingoccasion,torunawaymentally
fromthecurrentsituationiftheyhavefounditburdensomeintoeither
thepastorthefuture,etc.Whilethuscharactersexperienceorlive
their“dramatic”situations(criticalmomentsintheirindividuallives),
spectators,onthenecessaryconditionoftheirempatheticinvolvement
inwhatisshown(whatisbeingexperiencedonthestage),imagina-
tivelylivethroughthethusrepresentedexperiences.Thisstatement
callsforanotherdistinction;forwhilecharacters1eventhoughthey
havenoactualexistence1activelyparticipateintheportrayedevents
sioncanovercomeoursenseofclocktime:“Thereisnoreasonwhyamind[...]wandering
inecstasyshouldcounttheclock[...].”SeeBibliographyfordetailsoftheeditionused.
