Verba versus res in Shakespeare's reversal of Petrarchan epideictic rhetoric

Abstract

One of the crucial strategies underlying Shakespeare's sonnet sequence is the paradox of praise, or the reversal of Petrarchan epideictic rhetoric. This strategy is deeply intertwined with an equally significant issue regarding the relationship between verba and res, a relationship that has to do with the referential meaning of words. Shakespeare's paradox of praise will be studied in light of the Petrarchan model, particularly with regard to questions of negation and celebration as well as absence and desire. The analysis, carried out along the thematic paths I have sketched, will proceed by way of special attention to the Dark Lady sequence, in particular Sonnet 138. Questions concerning the treachery and the truth of desire together with notions of linguistic duplicity will also be studied within the specific framework of epideictic rhetoric, with particular reference to Sonnet 5 of Petrarch's Canzoniere.