The small world of Shakespeare's plays
Drama, at least according to the Aristotelian view, is effective inasmuch as it successfully mirrors real aspects of human behavior. This leads to the hypothesis that successful dramas will portray fictional social networks that have the same properties as those typical of human beings across ages a...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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2003
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| _version_ | 1797061956448813056 |
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| author | Stiller, J Nettle, D Dunbar, R |
| author_facet | Stiller, J Nettle, D Dunbar, R |
| author_sort | Stiller, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Drama, at least according to the Aristotelian view, is effective inasmuch as it successfully mirrors real aspects of human behavior. This leads to the hypothesis that successful dramas will portray fictional social networks that have the same properties as those typical of human beings across ages and cultures. We outline a methodology for investigating this hypothesis and use it to examine ten of Shakespeare's plays. The cliques and groups portrayed in the plays correspond closely to those which have been observed in spontaneous human interaction, including in hunter-gatherer societies, and the networks of the plays exhibit "small world" properties of the type which have been observed in many human-made and natural systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:38:37Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:337bb8bb-7c7d-4d02-b12e-2254f2c63968 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:38:37Z |
| publishDate | 2003 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:337bb8bb-7c7d-4d02-b12e-2254f2c639682022-03-26T13:20:30ZThe small world of Shakespeare's playsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:337bb8bb-7c7d-4d02-b12e-2254f2c63968EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2003Stiller, JNettle, DDunbar, RDrama, at least according to the Aristotelian view, is effective inasmuch as it successfully mirrors real aspects of human behavior. This leads to the hypothesis that successful dramas will portray fictional social networks that have the same properties as those typical of human beings across ages and cultures. We outline a methodology for investigating this hypothesis and use it to examine ten of Shakespeare's plays. The cliques and groups portrayed in the plays correspond closely to those which have been observed in spontaneous human interaction, including in hunter-gatherer societies, and the networks of the plays exhibit "small world" properties of the type which have been observed in many human-made and natural systems. |
| spellingShingle | Stiller, J Nettle, D Dunbar, R The small world of Shakespeare's plays |
| title | The small world of Shakespeare's plays |
| title_full | The small world of Shakespeare's plays |
| title_fullStr | The small world of Shakespeare's plays |
| title_full_unstemmed | The small world of Shakespeare's plays |
| title_short | The small world of Shakespeare's plays |
| title_sort | small world of shakespeare s plays |
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