Early Modern visual-verbal esoteric imagery and the theatre: Julius Caesar 1.3
NJES: Nordic Journal of English studies December 19, 2025 Svenn-Arve Myklebost
Combining close readings of images and text with historical and cultural investigation, this article shows how polysemous images and imagery are recombined within circular designs—wheels, spheres, globes, playhouses—upon which actors are staged to facilitate spiritual and practical insight into the microcosm and macrocosm. These elements are present in Renaissance theatre, and Act 1 Scene 3 of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar contains a striking range of esoteric verbal-visual imagery. The article argues that the esoteric visual tradition plays a major role in the composition and generation of meaning within that play, and studying these aspects aids in seeing how it approached societal and political issues in Elizabethan England.