Indict the Author of Affection: Affectation and Catachresis in Hamlet

Solving the riddle of Hamlet’s self-consciousness through classical rhetorical theory, early modern linguistic practices, and etymological sleuthing.

Bradley Buchanan explores, in light of classical rhetorical theory and early modern intellectual culture, the many manifestations of affectation in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He shows that the previously unexamined aspect of Shakespeare’s depictions of affectation lies in the catachrestic abuse of the word “affection” to signify affectation.