Book contents
- Shakespeare and Virtue
- Shakespeare and Virtue
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Shakespeare and Virtue Ethics
- Part II Shakespeare’s Virtues
- Chapter 11 The Four Cardinal Virtues
- Chapter 12 The Three Theological Virtues
- Chapter 13 Prudence
- Chapter 14 Friendship
- Chapter 15 Patience
- Chapter 16 Care
- Chapter 17 Hospitality
- Chapter 18 Respect
- Chapter 19 Chastity
- Chapter 20 Wit
- Chapter 21 Service
- Chapter 22 Humility
- Chapter 23 Kindness
- Chapter 24 Stewardship and Resilience
- Chapter 25 Cognitive Virtue and Global Ecosociability
- Chapter 26 Trust
- Chapter 27 Being “Free” as a Virtue
- Part III Shakespeare and Global Virtue Traditions
- Part IV Virtuous Performances
- Works Cited
- Index
Chapter 23 - Kindness
from Part II - Shakespeare’s Virtues
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2023
- Shakespeare and Virtue
- Shakespeare and Virtue
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Shakespeare and Virtue Ethics
- Part II Shakespeare’s Virtues
- Chapter 11 The Four Cardinal Virtues
- Chapter 12 The Three Theological Virtues
- Chapter 13 Prudence
- Chapter 14 Friendship
- Chapter 15 Patience
- Chapter 16 Care
- Chapter 17 Hospitality
- Chapter 18 Respect
- Chapter 19 Chastity
- Chapter 20 Wit
- Chapter 21 Service
- Chapter 22 Humility
- Chapter 23 Kindness
- Chapter 24 Stewardship and Resilience
- Chapter 25 Cognitive Virtue and Global Ecosociability
- Chapter 26 Trust
- Chapter 27 Being “Free” as a Virtue
- Part III Shakespeare and Global Virtue Traditions
- Part IV Virtuous Performances
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
“Kindness” is gentleness, consideration, care for others. It is related to “kinship”—the genetic and affective bonds among parents, children, brothers, and sisters. By way of “kind,” meaning “species” or “breed,” it expands the reach of those bonds to what Montaigne (in Florio’s translation) calls “the general throng.” The word “kindness” incites us to think about how human virtues, which usually stand apart from the natural world, might be rooted in our kinship with all the other animals. The Tempest is a key text for thinking about the history and the great utility of kindness as a transspecies virtue in the twenty-first century. This chapter makes its case for animal virtue by telling the story of the key arc of action in the play itself and by recounting a story about how the author of the chapter, at a workshop with actors and scholars, was terribly unkind toward Caliban and what he learned from his own lack of animal virtue.
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- Information
- Shakespeare and VirtueA Handbook, pp. 221 - 229Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023