Overview
This remarkable, innovative book explores the significance in
Shakespeare's plays of oaths, vows, contracts, pledges and the other
utterances and acts by which characters commit themselves to the truth
of things past, present, and to come. In early modern England, such
binding language was everywhere. Oaths of office, marriage vows, legal
bonds, and casual, everyday profanity gave shape and texture to life.
The proper use of such language, and the extent of its power to bind,
was argued over by lawyers, religious writers, and satirists, and these
debates inform literature and drama. Shakespeare's Binding Language
gives a freshly researched account of these contexts, but it is focused
on the plays. What motives should we look for when characters
asseverate or promise? How far is binding language self-persuasive or
deceptive? When is it allowable to break a vow? How do oaths and
promises structure an audience's expectations? Across the sweep of
Shakespeare's career, from the early histories to the late romances,
this book opens new perspectives on key dramatic moments and illuminates
language and action.
Each chapter gives an account of a play or group of plays, yet the study
builds to a sustained investigation of some of the most important
systems, institutions, and controversies in early modern England, and of
the wiring of Shakespearean dramaturgy. Scholarly but accessible, and
offering startling insights, this is a major contribution to Shakespeare
studies by one of the leading figures in the field.