Shakespearean delights: A poetics of pleasure

The dissertation examines how Shakespeare's dramas provide pleasure for audiences. The first chapter distinguishes the author's approach from contemporary methods of interpretation. Chapter two looks at how poetic rhythm can engage us in a rich cognitive play, intensifying our enjoyment of a performance. Chapter three analyzes the constant revisions and adjustments literary works demand of audiences as a process of intense, dynamic, and delightful engagement. Chapter four focuses on the ability of patterned repetitions to establish complex structures that entertain a perceiving mind. The final chapter views moments of contradiction as structures that enable audiences to think comfortably in mutually exclusive terms.