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Shakespeare's Curse: The Aporias of Ritual Exclusion in Early Modern Royal Drama

Shakespeare's Curse: The Aporias of Ritual Exclusion in Early Modern Royal Drama

Author: Bjoern Quiring
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780415704229

Published In: June 2015
Format: Paperback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only
Hardback Edition ISBN: 9780415517560

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Description
Contents

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Conceptualizing the curse as the representation of a foundational, mythical violence that is embedded within juridical discourse, Shakespeare's Curse pursues a reading of Richard III, King John and King Lear in order to analyze its persistence in the discourses of modernity. Shakespeare wrote during a period that was transformative in the development of legal thinking. But, taking up the relationship between theatre, theology and law, Bjoern Quiring argues that constitutional and contractarian legal thinking did not replace, but reinforced and reinvigorated Christian ideas about the curse and the oath.

Drawing on the work of Jacques Derrida, Walter Benjamin and Giorgio Agamben, among others, Quiring analyses the performativity of the curse, and tracks its power through the juristic themes -- of sovereignty, legitimacy, natural law, the exception, succession, and so on -- that are pursued within Shakespeare's plays. As such, Shakespeare's Curse provides an original and important insight into early modern legal developments, as well as a fresh perspective on some of Shakespeare's best known works.

Introduction

1. Richard III and His Repudiated Theatrical Patrimony

1.1. Anne and the Supplement of the Eucharist

1.2 Margaret and the Excommunication of the Old Liturgy

1.3 Edward IV, the Oath and the Enactment of the Social Contract

1.4 Hastings and the Fatal Prophecies

1.5 Henry VI and the Standing Army of the Dead

1.6 Clarence and the Diabolical Allegories

1.7 Buckingham and the Grounds of Spectacle

2. King John and the Ordeal of the Bastard "Commodity"

3. King Lear and the Naturalized State of Exception

3.1 Cordelia and the Double Face of Equity