Transcript RITA MASCIALINO THE DYNAMIC SPATIALITY OF …

RITA MASCIALINO
THE DYNAMIC SPATIALITY
OF
UNDERSTANDING
AND
MISUNDERSTANDING
© Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
1.
Scientific background of the hypothesis
2.
Hypothesis
about
understanding
misunderstanding at linguistic level
3.
Discussion of the hypothesis through the spatial
analysis of two literary texts of Shakespeare
(Sonnet LXXIII; King Lear, Act V, Scene III,
Monologue)
4.
Conclusions
© Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved.
and
1. Scientific background
- Broad scientific background:
 Evolution
 Semiotics
 Basic neurophysiology
- Specific background:
 Unconscious and conscious brain
 Space processing
© Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved.
2. Hypothesis about understanding and
misunderstanding at linguistic level
Key concepts of the hypothesis :
“Dynamic Spatiality”; “Endospatial Scheme”;
“Exospatial scheme”; “Endoplot”; “Exoplot”;
“Explicit Level”; “Implicit Level”;
Purpose:
Identification of understanding and
misunderstanding through the reconstruction of
the objective spatial schemes carried by language
at unconscious and conscious level.
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3. Discussion: Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXIII (last
verse)
Sonnet LXXIII
That time of year thou mayst in me behold,
When yellow leaves, or none, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where once the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day,
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals all up in rest.
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the dead-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
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Double spatiality carried by the word “well”

adverb connected to the actions expressed by the
verb “to love” intended in a romantic or in a sexual
way;

substantive connected with a “water source”
surfacing from the underground.
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Interpretation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXIII according to
the dynamic spatiality carried by the substantiv “well”
endo -
exospatial scheme
Ist Quatrain
Goal directed motion
of the protagonist
(metaphoric level)
hanging leaves
IInd Quatrain
Goal directed motion
of the protagonist
(metaphoric level)
setting sun
IIIrd Quatrain
Goal directed motion
of the protagonist
(metaphoric level)
expiring fire
Last Distich
Goal directed motion
of the protagonist
(metaphoric level)
well
© Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved.
Spatial schemes concerning the protagonist in Shakespeare’s Sonnet
LXXIII
Quatrains
Explicit level :
1. Relevant verbs concerning the “exoplot” (plot built by the “exospatial schemes”
carried by actions expressed by verbs): to hang (hanging leaves), to fade-to set
(fading sunset), to expire (expiring fire);
Implicit level :
2. Relevant motions concerning the “endoplot”
(plot built by the “endospatial
schemes” carried by the motions underlying the actions expressed by verbs):
downward motions ;
Distich
Explicit level :
1. None ;
Implicit level :
2. Relevant actions concerning the “exoplot”: to go down and penetrate into
the underground, to surface ;
3. Relevant motions concerning the “endoplot”: downward and upward
motions.
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Concrete and metaphoric spatiality of the “well” as an
underground water source
1.
General concrete spatiality: a well springs from a
deep and invisible underground up to the a visible
soil, purifying and nourishing nature, animals,
humans included;
2.
General metaphoric spatiality: a metaphoric well
refers to something metaphorically going up from
a metaphoric and invisible depth and flowing
everywhere on a visible surface, purifying and
nourishing on a metaphoric level.
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Metaphoric meaning of the spatiality intrinsic to the “well” as a water
source in the Sonnet LXXIII

Poetry, which pre-eminently arises from the psychological
deep or unconscious-(invisible) spatiality carried by the
superficial or conscious-(visible) spatiality carried by
language, purifying and revitalizing the neuronal circuits of
the human CNS and personality through the catharsis;
Poet, who lives after death in his poetry.

Why poetry in the context?

The protagonist speaks in the first quatrain about choirs and
once singing birds; the spatiality of the verb “to sing”
commonly matches with that of poetry;
There is a parallelism between the underground source
generally consisting in a pure water, and the main function
of poetry, which is a cathartic or purifying one.
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Spatial schemes concerning the beloved in the
distich of the Sonnet LXXIII
Distich
Explicit level :
1. Relevant verbs concerning the “exoplot”: to leave (to leave
in a short time and for ever the well which will perpetually
spread on the soil);
Implicit level :
2. Relevant verbs concerning the “exoplot”: to go away, to go
down and penetrate into the underground and to stay there
without surfacing;
3. Relevant motions concerning the “endoplot”: separation
motions, downward motions, no upward motions.
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Spatiality concerning the protagonist and the
beloved in the last verse of the Sonnet LXXIII
1.
The protagonist will persist for ever, because he
has not only the short spatiality of a biological
life, but also has poetry’s spatiality which can
overcome the short length of a biological life;
2.
The beloved will not persist for ever, because he
has only the short spatiality of a biological life.
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Global dynamic spatiality concerning the
intention of the protagonist

The endo- and exospatial schemes concerning the
unconscious and conscious goal directed actions
and motions, or the motivation and intention of
the protagonist, show a final upward direction
achieved through and after a downward one, i.e., a
final victory after an intermediate defeat.
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The misunderstanding about the double spatiality of
“well” in the Sonnett LXXIII

Thanks to the double spatiality of “well” as an
adverb and a substantive, one straightaway
understands “well” in the commonest way, i.e.,
only as an adverb connected with “to love”
romantically intended, in the sense that the
beloved should hasten to well love a protagonist
that is going to die; thereafter, one does not
perceive the presence of the sexual request and
the presence of the substantive.
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Motivation/results of the misunderstanding built by
Shakespeare about the double spatiality of “well”
as an adverb :
Disguised introduction of a sexual atmosphere through the confusing
spatiality intrinsic to the syntagm “to love well ” or “to well love”,
interpretable in a romantic and sexual direction;
as a substantiv :
Disguised introduction of a scorn on the beloved through the confusing
spatiality of the pronouns “that-which”, mistakenly interpretable as
connected with the dying protagonist, but correctly connected only with
“well” as a water source (the grammatically possible connection with
the yellow leaves etc. is semantically absurd), so that the beloved, who
apparently neglects or refuses the protagonist, is that who will soon lose
the possibility of enjoying not only the protagonist, but also, and first of
all, poetry because he will die for ever, whereas the neglected
protagonist will live for ever as a poet;
Disguised expression of Shakespeare’s selfawareness of his being a poet and
awareness of the importance of poetry for humanity.
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Main misunderstandings intrinsic to the
traditional interpretation of Shakespeare’s
Sonnet LXXIII






Misunderstanding about the motions downward into the
underground;
Misunderstanding about the motion upward to the
surface;
Misunderstanding about the parallel symbolism
‘purifying water/poetry’;
Misunderstanding about the misunderstanding built by
Shakespeare;
Misunderstanding
about
the
selfawareness
of
Shakespeare as a poet and about his awareness of the
relevance of poetry for humanity.
Misunderstanding about the deep structures of
Shakespeare’s text.
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3. Discussion: King Lear’s Monologue
(Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V, Scene III)
Lear: No, no, no, no! Come, let’s away to prison;
We two alone, will sing like birds i’ the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness : so we’ll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who’s in and who’s out;
And take upon’s the mistery of things,
As we were God’s spies : and we’ll wear out,
In a wall’d prison, packs and sets of great ones,
That ebb and flow by the moon.
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Dynamic spatiality of the protagonist according to
the “wall’d prison” (second-last verse)
endoConcrete and potential
motions of the protagonist
concerning the prison
exospatial scheme
(concrete level)
prison as a room with four walls
and a door to go in and out
Concrete and potential
motions of the protagonist
concerning the prison
(concrete level)
prison as a room with a walled up door
and no possibility to go out
Concrete and potential
motions of the protagonist
cncerning the prison
(concrete and metaphorical level)
prison as a walled up burial niche
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The verb “to wear out” in the traditional
interpretation of the Monologue
traditional interpretation of the verb “to wear out”:
to cancel the great ones from the memory, i.e.,
to forget them
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Falsification of the spatiality intrinsic to the verb “to wear
out” as “to forget”

Basic spatiality intrinsic to the verb “to forget”: removing of
reality and dislocating it to a place where one does not
perceive it consciously.
Falsification :
- the spatiality intrinsic to the invitation of Lear towards
Cordelia is that of a grandeur; a grandeur aimed to achieve a
forgetting of the great ones would be absurd ;
- the spatiality intrinsic to the uttering of “: and we’ll wear out”
is that of an emphasized counterattack after a big defeat
inflicted by the great ones; a so strongly emphasized
counterattack against the great ones aimed to achieve a
forgetting of the great ones, would be absurd;
- the spatiality intrinsic to the laughing at the great ones (the
gilded butterflies) excludes the removing of the persons
laughed at from the memory; further, a grandeur aimed to
achieve the possibility of laughing at the great ones in a
walled prison would be absurd.
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Meaning of the verb “to wear out” in the Sonnet
LXXIII according to its dynamic spatiality
Spatiality of the verb “to wear out” in the context:
opposition to the spatiality of the verbs “to ebb and
flow” concerning the great ones: While these go
up and down, suddenly appearing and soon
vanishing, Lear and Cordelia will keep their
position unaltered (they are dead in a walled up prison/burial
niche), and by doing this, they will persist and
continue living for ever (see preceding parallel form “: so we’ll
live” in the fourth verse), so defeating and overcoming the
great ones who do not keep their position.
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Metaphoric spatiality of the protagonists in the prison/burial
niche
How can the protagonists continue living for ever while dead?
- As poet and poetry;
 Spatiality of Shakespeare/Lear as one who sings and tells
old tales in the walled prison, i.e., spatiality of the poet since
poets sing and tell stories;

Spatiality of Cordelia as one who sings in the walled prison
with the protagonist, i. e., spatiality of poetry as a daughter
created by Shakespeare/Lear; as a bride solemnly and
passionately called by Shakespeare/Lear with stretched arm
and hand;

Spatiality of both poet and poetry as companions who will
persist as such, i.e., will live longer than the great ones.
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Falsification of Freud’s interpretation of King
Lear through the identification of its spatiality

Freud’s interpretation: Cordelia personifies death and has
been chosen by Lear because he wants to die or is going to
die.
Falsification :
Death has a masculin spatiality in English and in German,
therefore Freud is obliged to speak of Cordelia not directly as
the death, but as the Todesgöttin, or death goddess, feminin,
i.e., he consciously and arbitrarily changes the gender of
death for him to support his subjective interpretation;
Death as Todesgöttin cannot have the spatiality of a daughter
for Shakespeare/Lear because no goddess can come out of a
human or be generated by a human, i.e., Lear cannot have
created as a father a death goddess either concretely or
metaphorically, which would be absurd.

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Main misunderstandings intrinsic to the
traditional interpretation of Lear’s Monologue
- Misunderstanding about the spatiality of the “wall’d prison”;
-Misunderstanding about the spatiality of Cordelia’s nature;
- Misunderstanding about the spatiality of the syntagm “and
we’ll wear out”;
- Misunderstanding about the selfawareness of Shakespeare
as a poet and about his awareness of the power of poetry.
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Conclusions


The hypothesis outlined in this presentation aims to
provide language analysis with an objective basis,
being space processing an unfailing and objective
basis for the construction of meaning.
Through the identification of the Dynamic
Spatiality or whole of Endo- and Exospatial
Schemes concerning motions and actions at a
conscious and unconscious, an explicit and implicit
level, it is possible to go out of subjectivity and
misunderstanding in interpreting the meaning of
language. Psychoanalysis itself can get through the
falsifications produced by the identification of
Dynamic Spatiality that objectivity which it lacks
when it interprets language, works of art and
specifically literature.
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