Shakespeare's Imaginary Constitution: Late Elizabethan Politics and the Theatre of Law

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The proposed research will consider the representation of Elizabethan constitutional jurisprudence in the plays of Shakespeare, paying particular attention to the performance of these plays in the London playhouses of the 1590s and the early 1600s. I shall examine especially the capacity of the theatres of late Elizabethan London on Southwark's Bankside to provide an unprecedented public forum for the depiction and reception of political ideas. As Thomas Dekker noted of the new theatres, they allowed 'a stoole as well to the Farmers sonne as to your Templer: that your Stinkard has the self-same libertie to be there in his Tobacco-Fumes, which your sweet Courtier hath' ['The Guls Horne-Booke', 1609]. Central to the research project will be rigorous scrutiny of primary material, to establish how great a threat such egalitarianism posed the organs of institutional state authority. Did the status of Southwark as a 'Liberty' (beyond the jurisdiction of the City of London and the Justices of Surrey) allow Shakespeare to portray contentious models of constitutional governance; often antithetical to the absolutist model of late Elizabethan monarchy?A brief glance at even a handful of Shakespeare's plays reveals the author's fascination with law and legal procedure: the 'agon' of the trial is represented to supreme dramatic effect in 'The Merchant of Venice', 'Measure for Measure' and 'King Lear'. But the inherent drama of the courtroom is only one aspect of he law, with which Shakespeare was clearly fascinated. Of greater interest to this research project than a study of law in the courtroom is the broader and more imaginative purpose of exploring the correlation between Shakespeare's dramatic depictions of state governance and the constitutional theories propounded by early modern jurists, such as Edmund Plowden, Thomas Smith, Edward Coke and Francis Bacon (as well as exploring the influence of legal scholars from earlier periods, such as John Fortescue, Christopher St German and Thomas More). As scholars such as Stephen Greenblatt have noted, Elizabethan politics was conducted and represented to subjects of law as a form of theatre. It is appropriate therefore to consider the unique role played by the performance of poetic drama in portraying invisible principles, such as equity, good governance and justice.The 'long' last decade of Elizabethan rule, from 1590 to the death of the Queen in 1603, which coincided with the emergence of Shakespeare as a successful dramatist and poet, was marked in political terms by a notable absolutist trend. As the Royal Prerogative was used increasingly to circumvent the legitimate authority of common law jurisdiction, so eminent lawyers asserted the supremacy of the unwritten ancient constitution, guaranteeing to English subjects certain fundamental freedoms in the face of expansive monarchic claims to absolute, imperial authority. The research project will focus on this dramatic divergence of constitutional theory and political practice, as reflected in Shakespearean drama and the works of contemporary jurists.The primary output of the research will be a monograph of 100,000 words, entitled 'Shakespeare's Imaginary Constitution: Late Elizabethan Politics and the Theatre of Law'. I have a contract for the publication of the book, with Hart Publishing, and the acceptance of my proposal will enable me to complete and submit the manuscript by the deadline which I have agreed with the publisher. The monograph consists of six substantive chapters. I have completed two chapters (of 15,000 words each) and will complete two more chapters in the period of study leave awarded by The University of Warwick in autumn 2009. If accepted, this proposal will enable me to complete the remaining two chapters (plus the Introduction and Conclusion) during the period of the Research Leave Scheme. The book will be a major contribution to existing interdisciplinary scholarship in the field of law and literature.