Sponte sua

Spontaneous construction of meaning and narrative-dramatic identity

Abstract

In his works, László Tengelyi aims at understanding and interpreting phenomena in the human consciousness by drawing on a diacritical method of phenomenology based on Husserl, Merleau-Ponty and their disciples. In phenomenology, the phenomenon being interpreted is called an "event". In contrast, Tengelyi calls the spontaneous (sponte sua) production of meaning "experience". Through experience something new comes into being in consciousness. This can also be a model of narrating stories, as the spontaneous production of meaning often becomes possible within a story, however short or simple.

This paper surveys the tension between experience (the spontaneous production of meaning) and the  thematic constitution of meaning in the model of narration utilized by Shakespeare's Macbeth.  From the perspective of Tengelyi's theory, Macbeth's tragedy can be interpreted as a process in which Macbeth is trying to interpret the spontaneous, external production of meaning, while the real plot of the drama directed by the three witches evolves in contrast to this, featuring a string of losses.