ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a few comments on neglected elements in Shakespeare's dramatic vision, a vision of the universe and the destiny of man which derives directly from the medieval Christian civilisation of which he and Milton were perhaps the last great literary exponents. It emphasises certain aspects of the Elizabethan theatre and some of the opportunities and limitations it offered to a dramatist attempting to express this vision. The chapter suggests certain obvious and less obvious dimensions of reading and performing a Shakespeare text, dimensions that producers and actors should attempt to project. It believes that it can be demonstrated that Shakespeare accepted, with improved Renaissance amplifications, the great medieval synthesis or myth. It reminds one that the actor has three main instruments with which to serve the dramatist: his body, gestures, movements, postures; his costume, which is always more-or-less symbolic; and of course his voice.
