Shakespeare and the law / Gary Watt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Watt, Gary, author.

Series:

Oxford Shakespeare topics.

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford Shakespeare topics

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Knowledge--Law.

Shakespeare, William.

Law in literature.

Law and literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2024]

Summary:

'Shakespeare and the Law' appreciates Shakespeare and his works as expressions of an English early modern culture in which the shared rhetorical practices of dramatists and lawyers were informed by the renaissance of classical practice. It argues that Shakespeare was not primarily concerned with the technical accuracy of law, legal ideas, and legal performances, but with their capacity to generate dramatic interest through dispute, trial, the breaking of bonds, and the bending of rules. It follows that all Shakespeare's plays are in a sense 'law plays'. Rhetorical practices can emerge as performances of power, but in Shakespeare's works they show more as instances of the human instinct to challenge power by playing with rules.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on August 28, 2024).

ISBN:

0-19-198810-3

OCLC:

1453387866