Shakespeare’s Parted Eye: Perception, Knowledge and Meaning in the Sonnets and Plays

Shakespeare’s plays share with his sonnets a fundamental interest in the relation between perceiving, knowing and thinking, and between thinking and acting. By considering the relationship between perception as a theme and as a process of the thinking mind and various treatments of plot, structure and characterization, this book underscores the continuity of Shakespeare’s sonnets as well as the relation between his sonnets and plays. Recognizing Shakespeare’s use of the parted eye helps to reveal what Shakespeare thought about thought, how he understood understanding, and how he would have us understand it.