NEW DELHI: On day four of the Jaipur Literature Festival, a packed house was seen at an interesting session that talked about Shakespeare and Sigmund Freud — the two most discussed figures in literature and philosophy. In the session on book ‘In Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud,’ American historian Stephen Greenblatt spoke about the theme of a second chance in life with an examination of Shakespeare’s plays and Freud’s theories with Paul Smith.Greenblatt wove through plays like Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and The Winter’s Tale to discuss how Shakespeare desired a second chance in life through his stories. He shared how these stories present a deep-seated hope for redemption despite difficult circumstances. Smith said opening the session that the book relates to every individual. “The book is about how you live your life and how you actually accept your life or not accept it and try to change it.” Greenblatt said that Shakespeare was “oddly obsessed” with the possibility of having a second chance. “It was a feeling that you could glimpse early in his career which became increasingly intense as he got older. For instance, his later stage plays like The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest, are very explicitly and directly concerned with the notion that you’ve ruined something in your life — something has fallen apart and you’re dreaming about the possibility of getting something back.”
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