Washington and Lee University Library
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Digital Archive Home
    • W&L University Student Scholarship
    • W&L Dept. of English
    • View Item
    •   Digital Archive Home
    • W&L University Student Scholarship
    • W&L Dept. of English
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    A Tale of Three Butterflies: Etymology and Entomology in Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" (thesis)

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Honors thesis (304.9Kb)
    Author
    Gee, Benjamin Christopher
    Subject
    Washington and Lee University -- Honors in English
    Butterflies
    Symbolism in literature
    Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
    Coriolanus (Shakespeare, William)
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Description
    Thesis; [FULL-TEXT FREELY AVAILABLE ONLINE]
     
    Benjamin Christopher Gee is a member of the Class of 2018 of Washington and Lee University.
     
    To locate the butterfly's importance in Coriolanus, I will trace the butterfly's heritage from two perspectives - first as a word in English, and secondly as a literary symbol in the cultural tradition spanning Hebrew, Greek and Roman literatures through the Renaissance and Early Modern England, all contributing to Shakespeare's eventual participation in this tradition. In a survey of the butterfly's legacy as a literary symbol, I will construct a set of meanings associated with the butterfly that can be compared to Shakespeare's sporadic use of the term throughout his dramatic career. . . . Finally, examining Shakespeare's engagement with the butterfly in plays like A Midsummer Night's Dream, Troilus and Cressida, and most significantly, King Lear, I will make the claim that the butterfly's symbology in the Western tradition as received by Shakespeare contained primary associations with youthfulness, life, and sensibility, but also metamorphosis, fragility, victimhood and death. [From Introduction]
     
    Benjamin Christopher Gee
     
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11021/34115
    Collections
    • W&L Dept. of English

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2016  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV
     

     

    Browse

    All of the Digital ArchiveCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2016  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV