Communal justice in Shakespeare's England : drama, law, and emotion / Penelope Geng.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Geng, Penelope, author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English drama--Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600--History and criticism.

English drama.

Law in literature.

Lawyers in literature.

Law enforcement in literature.

Justice in literature.

Justice, Administration of, in literature.

Law--Great Britain--History--16th century.

Law.

English drama--Early modern and Elizabethan.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Criticism and interpretation.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 257 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press, [2021]

Summary:

"The sixteenth century was a turning point for both law and drama. Relentless professionalization of the common law set off a cascade of lawyerly self-fashioning - resulting in blunt attacks on lay judgment. English playwrights, including Shakespeare, resisted the forces of legal professionalization by casting legal expertise as a detriment to moral feeling. They celebrated the ability of individuals, guided by conscience and working alongside members of their community, to restore justice. Playwrights used the participatory nature of drama to deepen public understanding of and respect for communal justice. In plays such as King Lear and Macbeth, lay people accomplish the work of magistracy: conscience structures legal judgment, neighbourly care shapes the coroner's inquest, and communal emotions give meaning to confession and repentance. An original and deeply sourced study of early modern literature and law, Communal Justice in Shakespeare's England contributes to a growing body of scholarship devoted to the study of how drama creates and sustains community. Penelope Geng brings together a wealth of imaginative and documentary archives - including plays, sermons, conscience literature, Protestant hagiographies, legal manuals, and medieval and early modern chronicles - proving that literature never simply reacts to legal events but always actively invents legal questions, establishes legal expectations, and shapes legal norms."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. From Assise to the Assize at Home

2. Judicature in Crisis: Henry IV, Part 2

3. Neighbourliness and the Coroner's Inquest in English Domestic Tragedies

4. Repairing Community: Empathetic Witnessing in King Lear

5. Communal Shaming and the Limitations of Legal Forms: Henry VI, Part 2 and Macbeth.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-233) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Geng, Penelope. Communal justice in Shakespeare's England.

ISBN:

9781487508043

1487508042

OCLC:

1223014441

Publisher Number:

99992656606