3. Imperfect Witness

Tragic figures in Shakespeare, from Lavinia through Cressida to Coriolanus, find themselves threatened or betrayed by the way others see them, their anguish reduced to the terms of a knowing objectivity which disallows their specialness. Tragedy arises out of the resistance this encounters, or the pain it inflicts. This discussion of the problematics of the heroic in Shakespeare is framed by reference to Pirandello’s Six Characters, Crimp’s Attempts on Her Life, and Miller’s Death of a Salesman. The chapter then moves to a different, proactive kind of witnessing, which tells a story about the tragic figure that affirms their exceptionality, dangerously drawing the intensities of their inner life into the world of action. Ibsen’s Wild Duck and Master Builder lead to a concluding discussion of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, which draws the threads of the chapter together. Although the immediate focus is on witness figures within the plays, this extends to our involvement as spectators in the theatre, attuned to how the matter of the play is shaped and re-shaped by the dynamic energies of representation.