The advent of digital text, such as MIT’s Complete Works of Shakespeare ( Hylton 1993) and Open Source Shakespeare ( Johnson 2003), made Shakespeare’s works easily searchable with a command-F or control-F. With the appearance of Martin Spevack’s Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare in 1974, scholars could easily find and compare Shakespeare’s use of particular words across plays ( Spevack 1974). Keyword and thematic analysis has always been a mainstay of humanities criticism as this essay shows, topic modeling offers a mode of literary analysis that expands our understanding of word use beyond thematics and pre-selected keywords. One of the benefits of topic modeling is that it can lead researchers to new avenues for comparison. For this study, we apply topic modeling algorithms to XML-encoded plays (that differentiate between speakers) in order to analyze the relationships and the recurring themes between the characters in Shakespeare’s plays. 1 The relative lack of topic modeling on Shakespeare could be attributed to the fact that his most popular works today are plays rather than having an overarching narrative or authorial voice, Shakespeare dramatizes many characters with distinct voices. Taking into account Shakespeare’s pre-eminent position in the English literary canon, there has been surprisingly little work on topic modeling his corpus. Mots-clés: Shakespeare pièces de théâtre modèle thématique modèles à thèmes Falstaff Prince Hal Henry V Henri IV Joyeuses commères de Windsor Keywords: Shakespeare, drama, topic modeling, Falstaff, Prince Hal, Henry V, Henry IV, Merry Wives of Windsor DOI: Comme cette recherche le montre, l’usage de modèles à thèmes pour analyser des pièces, ce qui se concentre sur chaque personnage, offre de nouvelles voies de comparaisons et étoffe donc nos interprétations de la littérature. Finalement, nous espérons que cette analyse algorithmique des pièces de Shakespeare n’est pas considérée comme une solution finale, mais plutôt comme une réplique. Inversement, les modèles à thèmes révèlent que Falstaff est Falstaff à travers plusieurs pièces et genres (notamment, 1 et 2 Henri IV et Les Joyeuses Commères de Windsor), malgré des affirmations érudites que le Falstaff dans la comédie est une version édulcorée du vantard ivre des pièces d’histoire. Hal, lui-même, annonce: « j’ai renoncé à mon passé » -son changement de diction confirme cette affirmation. Particulièrement, nous employons des modèles à thèmes pour montrer que le jeune Prince Hal ( 1 et 2 Henri IV) ne parle pas le même langage que celui qu’il parle après être devenu Henri V ( Henri V): son changement linguistique reflète son changement de standing.
Notre analyse se concentre sur le corpus de Shakespeare et sur ses personnages qui réapparaissent dans plusieurs pièces.
As this research reveals, topic modeling plays with attention to each speaker opens the door for new comparisons, and in turn, expands on previous interpretations of literature.Ĭet essai démontre que les modèles à thèmes ( topic model) peuvent être appliqués avec succès à des pièces encodées en TEI, ce qui permet aux érudits d’analyser le discours de personnages individuels. Ultimately, we hope that this algorithmically-informed analysis of Shakespeare’s plays is not taken as a final answer, but, instead, as a prompt. Conversely, topic models reveal that Falstaff is Falstaff across multiple plays and genres (notably, 1 and 2 Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor), despite scholarly claims to that the Falstaff of comedy is a watered-down version of the braggart drunk of the history plays. Hal himself announces, “I have turned away my former self”-his change in diction bears out his assertion. Specifically, we use topic models to show that young Prince Hal (in 1 and 2 Henry IV) does not speak the same language as his later self, Henry V (in his titular play): his linguistic shift mirrors his shift in status. Our analysis centers on Shakespeare’s corpus and characters who reappear in multiple plays. This essay demonstrates how topic modeling can be fruitfully applied to TEI-encoded plays, which allows scholars to analyze speeches by individual characters. Is Falstaff Falstaff? Is Prince Hal Henry V?: Topic Modeling Shakespeare’s Plays Research Is Falstaff Falstaff Is Prince Hal Henry V: Topic Modeling Shakespeare’s Plays Authors: Abstract
0 kommentar(er)
