This valuable book gets at the very dynamics of drama, “the primal energies that are the source of a play’s emotional rhythms.” As such it makes a major advance on previous analyses of Shakespeare’s action, which have taken the scene and its segments to be the basic unit, as indicated by entrances and exits. The Halletts penetrate to deeper levels, where the action may be analyzed in terms of motivation, the interrelationships of characters, and the rise and fall of emotional intensity . . . Although the analyses are in a sense technical—and thus of particular use to performers and critical interpreters—action is so integral to Shakespeare’s plays that this book is likely to interest anyone who seriously wishes to understand his art.
Everyone has been aware of Shakespeare’s fondness for the “180-degree reversal” as a structural feature. But no one has previously shown how frequently it occurs in virtually every aspect of his presentation of action, even exposition.
