Freud's very brief 1922 paper on the beheading of Medusa by Perseus wisely concludes with a call for a further examination of the sources of the legend. A now widespread interpretation of this legend ...is based (often without acknowledgement) on an addition to traditions concerning Medusa made in Ovid's
. It is argued here that this Ovidian innovation has often been misinterpreted, and that a more careful reading of
supports neither a widely alleged exclusively vengeful portrayal of Medusa, nor Freud's portrayal of Medusa's decapitation as
a pitiable and terrible symbol of castration. Instead, Ovid's complex treatments of myths involving Medusa, Minerva and Perseus present parallels with Kleinian insights into phantasy attacks on fecundity, and into imagined revivals of dead or damaged inside babies. Thus the "displacement upwards" of the fearful castrated maternal genital envisioned in Freud's "Medusa's Head" must stand beside a quite different "displacement upwards" of the life-giving maternal genital. Indeed, tradition holds that Medusa's beheading gives rise to the birth of vigorous twins. Together with allied details, this aligns Ovid's masterwork with theories that modify or displace the so-called "sexual phallic monism" that some believe taints Freud's theories of gender development.
This interdisciplinary study combines legal, historical and literary approaches to the practice and theory of marriage in Shakespeare's time. It uses the history of English law and the history of the ...contexts of law to study a wide range of Shakespeare's plays and poems. The authors approach the legal history of marriage as part of cultural history. The household was viewed as the basic unit of Elizabethan society, but many aspects of marriage were controversial, and the law relating to marriage was uncertain and confusing, leading to bitter disagreements over the proper modes for marriage choice and conduct. The authors point out numerous instances within Shakespeare's plays of the conflict over status, gender relations, property, religious belief and individual autonomy versus community control. By achieving a better understanding of these issues, the book illuminates both Shakespeare's work and his age.
Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is analyzed. Shakespeare subtly portrays Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream as harboring a denial or evasion of certain spiritual forces and aspects of ...humanity. Theseus's dismissal of a theatrical performance depicting the dismemberment of Orpheus is questioned, as it is suggested that his rejection may be motivated by a denial of what that death portended. Parallels are drawn between the myth of Orpheus and the death of Pentheus in Euripides' Bacchae, suggesting a possible linkage between the two plays. Shakespeare may have been familiar with Euripides' work and that Theseus's character development in A Midsummer Night's Dream reflects a rejection of arrogance and a recognition of the powers of imagination.
Falstaff in his four Shakespeare plays, and even more markedly his companion Nim in two of them, repeatedly pronounce on the 'humour' of persons or events. Nonetheless, Falstaff is not at all a ...static or typecast 'humour' character. This is a factor that critics have insisted upon since the time of Maurice Morgann's 1777 Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff. Indeed it has long been noted that there is a significant development in the characterization of Falstaff between the two earliest of those plays, the two closely related parts of King Henry IV.
Purpose: The guarded light pipe is a recently described alternative endoillumination technique to chandelier illumination. We sought to compare the outcomes of scleral buckling (SB) under indirect ...ophthalmoscopy (ID) to heads-up three-dimensional visualization with a guarded light pipe (3DGLP). Methods: A retrospective comparative study was performed, including 47 eyes that underwent SB for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) repair with either traditional ID (n = 31) or 3DGLP (n = 16). Results: The single surgery anatomic success rate was 87.0% in the ID group and 87.5% in the 3DGLP group. The final anatomic success rate was 100% in both groups. The median (interquartile range) post-operative logMAR was 0.10 (0.0-0.20) in the ID group and 0.08 (0.02-0.69) in the 3DGLP group (p = 0.51). The median operative time was 107 (94-123) minutes in the ID group and 100 (90-111) minutes in the 3DGLP group (p = 0.25). Among eyes that underwent subretinal fluid drainage, the operative time was significantly longer in the ID group compared to the 3DGLP group, 113 (100-135) minutes vs 93 (85-111) minutes (p = 0.035). There were no post-operative complications in the ID group and one complication of self-resolving vitreous hemorrhage associated with a malfunctioning cryoprobe in the 3DGLP group (p = 0.34). There were no cases of post-operative cataract progression in either group. Conclusion: Compared to traditional SB, 3DGLP improves ergonomics and educational value with similar anatomical, visual, intra and post-operative outcomes and may result in shorter operative time in cases requiring subretinal fluid drainage. Keywords: endoillumination, heads up visualization, NGENUITY, scleral buckle, light pipe, retinal detachment
ABSTRACTNoncompressible torso hemorrhage is a leading cause of death in trauma, with many patients dying before definitive hemorrhage control. Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the ...aorta (REBOA) is an adjunct than can be used to expand the window of salvage in patients with end-stage hemorrhagic shock. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of continuous and intermittent REBOA (iREBOA) on mortality using a highly lethal porcine model of noncompressible torso hemorrhage. Male splenectomized pigs (70–90 kg) underwent a laparoscopic liver injury (80% resection of left lobe) followed by a 10-min free-bleed period. Animals were then divided into three groups (n = 8) for a 60-min intervention phase (n = 8)continuous occlusion (cREBOA), iREBOA, or no occlusion (nREBOA). Groups then underwent whole blood resuscitation, damage control surgery, and further critical care. Endpoints were mortality and hemodynamic and circulating measures of shock and resuscitation. Systolic blood pressure (in mmHg) at the end of the free-bleed period for cREBOA, iREBOA, and nREBOA was 31 ± 14, 48 ± 28, and 28 ± 17, respectively (P = 0.125). Following the start of the intervention phase, systolic blood pressure was higher in the iREBOA and cREBOA groups compared with the nREBOA (85 ± 37 and 96 ± 20 vs. 42 ± 4; P < 0.001). Overall mortality for the cREBOA, iREBOA, and nREBOA groups was 25.0%, 37.5%, and 100.0% (P = 0.001). Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta can temporize exsanguinating hemorrhage and restore life-sustaining perfusion, bridging critical physiology to definitive hemorrhage control. Prospective observational studies of REBOA as a hemorrhage control adjunct should be undertaken in appropriate groups of human trauma patients.
In the Folio text of The Merry Wives of Windsor, the Welsh schoolmaster Hugh Evans is ten times called a parson, and ten times called a priest, and for that reason is thirteen times addressed as Sir ...Hugh Evans (emphasis added). Yet the sole professional function he performs on stage is that of a teacher, seen especially when he tutors the schoolboy William Page. Here, Sokol focuses on why does Shakespeare give his Windsor Schoolmaster a Double Occupation as an Educator and as
Shakespearian numerological symbolism or arithmetic wit is sometimes explicit and sometimes more obscure. Explicit instances are seen in both plays and poems. For instance, in the course of ...contrasting a visitor's courtly diction and overblown flattery with his royal host's curt diction at the start of The Winter's TaJet Shakespeare has Polixenes compare himself with the number zero, or a 'cipher'. Brittle wittiness is indicated here because in the decimal system of numeration a zero on its own indicates nil but a zero placed beside greater digits may indicate a great increaseâ€"thus the number '990', for instance, far exceeds zero, and indeed it multiplies the number '99'. On this basis Polixenes avers: 'And therefore, like a cipher, / Yet standing in rich place, I multiply / With one "We thank you" many thousands more' (I.ii.6-8). A play on the word 'number' itself arises in Shakespeare's sonnet 136. For this sonnet not only puns multiply when conflating various uses of the word 'will' with the name ' Wilt, but also plays on two contradictory meanings of the term 'a number', a term that can denote either any numeral (OED2.a) or else denote a multiplicity of items (as in 'a number of geese' meaning more than one.
