Dilemma and Theatre

Starting from the way in which director Andrei Șerban works closely with the actor, during rehearsals, taking him out of his often superficial dilemmatic states, the present paper analyzes the concept of dilemma from several perspectives, including Sophocle’s and William Shakespeare’s perspectives in Antigone and Hamlet.

The dilemma, if it is seen as a vague concept, carrying vague meanings, can easily mislead the one who experiences it, especially in the theatre. But the dilemma as justified reasoning can only be understood as a clarification of what seems to be uncertain. Discerning what needs to be done when balancing utility and morality defines dilemma as a tool for establishing the limits within which an action can take place. Thus dilemma understood as a dramatic state seems to be proper to theatricality. At the same time, the paper focuses on the analysis of the moral dilemma through the juxtaposition of utilitarian and moral paradigms.