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

Published Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, 2021 ©2021

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Description 1 online resource : illustrations Contents Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface -- Note on Texts -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: A Double Obligation -- Chapter One From Assise to the Assize at Home -- Chapter Two Judicature in Crisis: Henry IV, Part 2 -- Chapter Tree Neighbourliness and the Coroner's Inquest in English Domestic Tragedies -- Chapter Four Repairing Community: Empathetic Witnessing in King Lear -- Chapter Five Communal Shaming and the Limitations of Legal Forms: Henry VI, Part 2 and Macbeth -- Postscript -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index 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 Analysis England English common law King Lear Macbeth Protestant Reformation Shakespeare and law Shakespeare communal justice conscience domestic tragedy inns of court law and emotion law and literature Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on April 28, 2021) Subject Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation. SUBJECT Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 fast Subject English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600 -- History and criticism Law in literature. Lawyers in literature. Law enforcement in literature. Justice in literature. Justice, Administration of, in literature. Law -- Great Britain -- History -- 16th century LITERARY CRITICISM / Shakespeare English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan Justice, Administration of, in literature Justice in literature Law Law enforcement in literature Law in literature Lawyers in literature Great Britain Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book ISBN 9781487537449 1487537441 9781487537432 1487537433

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