The Avoidance of Love

Hamlet dies before an audience, harping on the audience present to him, and his consciousnes of himself is immortalized by his consciousness of them. That is not an option for us, not merely because we cannot command an audience, since no one’s position is relevantly different from mine; but because, since no one’s position is relevantly different from mine, to convert others into an audience is to further the very sense of isolation which makes us wish for an audience.

Stanley Cavell, The Avoidance of Love.

Verwant: It’s never about being seen.