The Face as Rhetorical Self in Ben Jonson’s Literature

In this essay, Akihiko Shimizu reconsiders the most widely accepted critical views on Jonson’s “flat” characters versus Shakespeare’s “round” ones. He argues that the Jonsonian concept of character—underpinned by classical rhetorical theories of Quintilian and Plutarch—should be understood as an effect of interaction and exchange and not as a manifestation of consciousness. Jonson’s characters are the effect of a simultaneous process of rhetorical self-enhancement and self-exposure. As these men and women attempt to depict their own worth by affecting humours, their interlocutors use rhetorical conjecture to expose what lies beneath this verbal disguise. Both Jonson’s and Shakespeare’s literature share an interest in performativity, acknowledging the impersonated character as inter-subjective, and prompting the audience to participate in deciphering the character from outward appearance and face.