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Shakespeare and law

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lightbulbAbout this topic
Shakespeare and law is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines the intersections between the works of William Shakespeare and legal concepts, practices, and institutions of his time. It explores how legal themes, language, and issues of justice are represented in Shakespeare's plays and poetry, contributing to the understanding of law in the Elizabethan era.
lightbulbAbout this topic
Shakespeare and law is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines the intersections between the works of William Shakespeare and legal concepts, practices, and institutions of his time. It explores how legal themes, language, and issues of justice are represented in Shakespeare's plays and poetry, contributing to the understanding of law in the Elizabethan era.

Key research themes

1. How does Shakespeare’s work engage with and reflect early modern legal culture and practices?

This research area focuses on situating Shakespeare's plays and writings within the context of early modern English legal systems, exploring how legal language, practices, and culture influence Shakespeare’s dramaturgy and narrative techniques. It matters because it moves beyond abstract or philosophical readings of law in Shakespeare to historically grounded analyses that reveal the integral role of legal institutions and forms in shaping the plays, characters, and themes. This grounded approach challenges older assumptions and develops a richer understanding of the relationship between literature and law in the period.

Key finding: This paper traces a shift in Shakespeare and law studies from ahistorical ethical inquiries to detailed contextualizations of Shakespeare’s texts within early modern legal culture. It highlights Shakespeare’s precise use of... Read more
Key finding: This study situates Shakespeare’s views as aligned with Tudor social philosophy, affirming hierarchies and a law-centered order wherein the king is sovereign but subject to the law. It explores Shakespeare’s nuanced treatment... Read more
Key finding: Drawing on legal procedural metaphor, this work reveals how the Shakespearean theatrical experience was deeply infused with legal terminology, reflecting widespread audience familiarity with English law. It underscores the... Read more
Key finding: Critically evaluates common law and literature assumptions by assessing Kornstein’s interpretations, arguing that Shakespeare’s plays (especially The Merchant of Venice) reflect rather than uphold simplistic legal themes. It... Read more
Key finding: Provides a critical review of a reference work cataloging Shakespeare’s legal language, underscoring both the accuracy of its legal definitions and the uneven literary application. It emphasizes the necessity of understanding... Read more

2. How do Shakespeare’s plays explore the political dimensions of law, power, and governance?

This theme investigates Shakespeare’s dramatic representations of political authority, kinship, and the law’s role in sustaining or challenging the body politic. It involves interrogating the plays as reflections on power struggles, legitimacy, and the relationship between subjects and sovereigns, often through metaphors like the body politic. This research is significant for revealing how Shakespeare’s political wisdom remains relevant to modern understandings of governance, justice, and democratic theory.

Key finding: The paper argues that Shakespeare’s works provide a comprehensive and enduring image of the Body Politic, elucidating the complex relations between individuals and the political whole. It highlights Shakespeare’s nuanced... Read more
Key finding: This paper finds that the political conflict in Hamlet and Macbeth centers on kinship ties as the primary axis of power struggles, where family relations and military might intertwine. It reveals how Shakespeare dramatizes... Read more
Key finding: Kottman’s work, reviewed here, interprets Hamlet and related tragedies as meditations on the tensions between individual property rights and cultural obligations such as care for the dead. The review links this to... Read more
Key finding: Though this survey primarily addresses Shakespeare’s engagement with early modern European sociopolitical events, it contextualizes Shakespearean treatment of political identities and territorial boundaries. It highlights... Read more

3. How do Shakespeare’s plays use legal rhetoric and concepts to construct ethical and political persuasion and notions of justice?

This research area examines Shakespeare’s deployment of legal and rhetorical concepts to navigate themes of justice, ethical behavior, and persuasion. It includes the study of how temporal concepts, legal language, and bonds are used theatrically for moralistic and political effect, highlighting the intersection of law, rhetoric, and theatrical performance in shaping audience perceptions about authority, justice, and communal values.

Key finding: This essay identifies Henry V’s rhetorical strategy as grounded in Aristotelian concepts of time as a measure of change, whereby Henry’s speeches merge present and proleptic future to ethically persuade his audience. It... Read more
Key finding: The paper critically revisits the term 'bond' in The Merchant of Venice, arguing Shakespeare anticipated and portrayed multiple dimensions of economic and legal bonding that accommodate competing interests, akin to Hayekian... Read more
Key finding: This study situates The Merchant of Venice as emblematic of the ‘law and literature’ movement’s attempt to reconcile the law’s formalism with literature’s nuanced portrayals of justice. It highlights how Shakespeare’s... Read more
Key finding: This work demonstrates that Shakespeare’s poetic drama and early modern common law share a correlated visual and rhetorical grammar. It argues that film adaptations uniquely magnify the personal impact of law, revealing the... Read more

All papers in Shakespeare and law

In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, we witness the chilling intersection of law and vengeance, personified by Shylock, a character who demands a pound of flesh from his debtor in the name of justice, though what he truly seeks is... more
This paper delves into William Shakespeare's timeless play, "The Merchant of Venice," through the lens of psychological analysis. Applying principles of psychoanalytic theory, we aim to unravel the intricacies of the characters'... more
As intersecções possíveis entre Direito e Literatura permeiam um vasto campo exploratório para a Filosofia do Direito. Nos Estados Unidos, a corrente Direito e Literatura é bem estabelecida e a disciplina difundida na maioria das... more
Lear y su camino hacia la locura" En el presente trabajo se intentará establecer el inicio y las causas de la locura de Lear. Para esto nos basaremos en dos trabajos: "Madness in King Lear" del destacado académico Inglés Kenneth Muir, y... more
El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar el vinculo entre derecho de propiedad, poder y dignidad a traves de una de las tragedias de William Shakespeare, King Lear. Aunque el Rey Lear divide su reino, entre sus tres hijas, al mismo tiempo... more
In the 16 th century, the Semitics were forced to live in a segregated part of Venice, the Ghetto, which was guarded by Christians at night. They had to wear a red cap as their Jewish identity during the day and were locked into their... more
 Lear: Es un personaje que al principio se muestra muy por encima de todos los demás, ya que era el rey. Es un personaje al que se le puede engañar fácilmente, porque todo se lo cree. Valora más las palabras que los hechos, de ahí que... more
El 26 de abril de 1564, en el sexto año del reinado de Isabel I de Inglaterra, fue bautizado William Shakespeare en Stratford-upon-Avon, un pueblecito del condado de Warwick que no sobrepasaba los dos mil habitantes, orgullosos todos... more
Temos no Bardo (Willian Shakespeare) um arrimo ao ensino jurídico e jurisconsultos da envergadura de Lênio Luis Streck, Miriam Coutinho de Farias Alves, Jose Calvo Gonzáles e Kenji Yoshino – respectivamente Brasil, Espanha e EUA; que... more
El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar el vínculo entre derecho de propiedad, poder y dignidad a través de una de las tragedias de William Shakespeare, King Lear. Aunque el Rey Lear divide su reino, entre sus tres hijas, al mismo tiempo... more
This essay examines the plural nature and meaning of the word "bond" in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, dispelling popular readings of the play as anti-market. The Merchant of Venice is open to an array of interpretations favorable to... more
François Ost is a belgian philosopher who, in his book “Telling the law” do more than a simple academic work about the relations between Law and Literature: the author propose a new way to realize the Law, and to identify him from his... more
A los 17 años marchó a Londres donde fue sucesivamente traspunte, actor, autor y empresario de teatro. Rico y famoso compró su casa natal y, salvo algunos viajes a Londres, residió en Stratford los últimos años de su vida; hasta que murió... more
Los estudios psicoanalíticos aplicados a la literatura se basan en la consideración de los personajes como personas reales dotadas de personalidad, sentimientos, estados de ánimo, conflictos, objetivos, motivaciones… En este análisis... more
In this essay, I argue for the benefits of Suzanne Gossett’s reading of Pericles over the Oxford’s 1986 reconstructed Pericles, looking specifically at Act 3, Scenes 1 and 2. Gossett argues that Cerimon’s “rough and woeful music” is not a... more
Abstract Virtual Actors are at the heart of Interactive Storytelling systems and in recent years multiple approaches have been described to specify their autonomous behaviour. One well known problem is how to achieve a balance between the... more
En este trabajo se analizará en Shakespeare, sobre todo a partir de King Lear, aquellos rasgos que lo acercan al movimiento barroco -y su posible explicación desde el contexto histórico-, por comparación con los dramaturgos españoles y a... more
Virtual Actors are at the heart of Interactive Storytelling systems and in recent years multiple approaches have been described to specify their autonomous behaviour. One well known problem is how to achieve a balance between the... more
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