Conclusion: ‘Under heaven’s eye’

Abstract

This General Conclusion argues that Shakespeare’s stance was of course not that of a would-be scientist, since what he was interested in was the representation of climate and its possible effects on a theatrical audience rather than trying to define its possible causes. To him, the various climatic manifestations and environmental phenomena were the ‘objective correlatives’ of his characters’ actions and emotions. The technical means then available served to reinforce these manifestations and turned them into material sensations that could instil surprise, terror or admiration in the spectators’ minds. In Shakespeare’s plays, climate/klima is to be taken as a liminal space that reveals tensions, anxieties, expectations, and oppositions. It is up to the present-day directors to turn this threshold zone into a dramatic locus where the trajectories, or fates, of the various dramatis personae may ultimately be grasped and mapped.