Immodest Behavior

Abstract

This essay explores the concept of mimesis, or imitation, in relation to self-revelation and concealment, drawing on examples from Plato’s Republic and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It examines the limits of dramatic mimesis, and analyzes scenes in Hamlet where characters unwittingly reveal themselves through bodily confessions, contrasting this with the self-exposure of actors like the First Player. The essay argues that confession, in these instances, is a non-mimetic, immodest display of the self, irreducible to the expression of content or moral state.