ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the key concepts discusssed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the intermedial quality of theatre within its generic functionality between the visual and the stage. It individuates in Shakespeare's dramatic output a steady progression towards not merely a visual and iconic sensitivity but more specifically towards emblematic art. The book establishes a critical perspective of ekphrastic intertextuality associable to the emblem tradition and to the period's visual culture in general. It examines in detail the derivation from Titian's painting, offering new insights into the relationship between these two episodes of visual imagination which arouse our perception of the poem's enticing visual organization. It provides an analysis of the dramatic significance and adoptions of these terms in the visual construction of some scenes in the last plays, where examples of a new perception of theatrical and scenographic vision characterize Shakespeare's dramatic experience.
