Word: cvnicism
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...fourth act, when the uprising is over and The Boss at last permits himself to respond -- to its "defeat," as he says -- a full circle has been run. The audience has moved from wisdom, in sharing Brecht's rejection of Coriolanus, to instinctive contempt for Brecht's cvnicism in the face of actual revolt, to wisdom again in Brecht's recognition of his folly. But the last reaction is brief, for just as Brecht has sympathized with something that is over -- as much a part of history as Shakespeare and Coriolanus -- the audience has achieved its wisdom too late...
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