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

拟议中的研究将考虑在莎士比亚戏剧中的代表性，特别注意这些戏剧在1590年代和1600年代初的伦敦剧场的表现。我将特别考察位于萨瑟克河畔的伦敦晚期的剧院为描绘和接受政治思想提供前所未有的公共论坛的能力。正如托马斯·德克尔（Thomas Dekker）在谈到新剧院时所说的那样，“农民索内和坦普勒一样，都有机会去看戏，你的臭卡德也有同样的自由，可以去看他的《烟草烟雾》，你的可爱的朝臣也有同样的自由，”《格尔斯·霍恩-布克》，1609年。该研究项目的核心将是对原始材料进行严格审查，以确定这种平等主义对国家机构权威构成多大的威胁。萨瑟克作为“自由”的地位（超出了伦敦市和萨里法官的管辖范围）是否允许莎士比亚描绘有争议的宪政模式;通常与中世纪晚期君主制的绝对主义模式相对立？只要简单浏览一下莎士比亚的几部戏剧，就能发现作者对法律和法律的程序的迷恋：在《威尼斯商人》、《以德报怨》和《李尔王》中，审判的“边”被表现得具有极强的戏剧效果。但法庭上固有的戏剧性只是法律的一个方面，莎士比亚显然对这一点很着迷。与法庭上的法律研究相比，这个研究项目更感兴趣的是探索莎士比亚对国家治理的戏剧性描述与早期现代法学家，如埃德蒙·普洛登，托马斯史密斯，爱德华·科克和弗朗西斯培根提出的宪法理论之间的关系，这是一个更广泛和更富有想象力的目的（以及探索早期法律的学者的影响，如约翰·福蒂斯丘、克里斯托弗·圣日耳曼和托马斯莫尔）。正如斯蒂芬·格林布拉特（Stephen Greenblatt）等学者所指出的那样，拿破仑时代的政治是作为一种戏剧形式向法律主体进行和表现的。因此，我们应该考虑到诗剧表演在描绘无形原则方面所发挥的独特作用，例如公平、善治和正义。从1590年到1603年女王去世的“漫长”的最后十年，正好与莎士比亚作为一个成功的剧作家和诗人的出现相吻合，在政治上有一个明显的专制主义趋势。随着皇家特权越来越多地被用来规避普通法管辖权的合法权威，因此，著名的法学家主张不成文的古代宪法的至高无上，在君主对绝对的帝国权威的扩张要求面前，保证英国臣民的某些基本自由。该研究项目将集中在宪法理论和政治实践的这种戏剧性的分歧，反映在莎士比亚戏剧和当代法学家的作品中，研究的主要成果将是一部10万字的专著，题为《莎士比亚的想象宪法：晚期莎士比亚的政治和法律戏剧》。我与哈特出版社签订了出版这本书的合同，如果接受我的建议，我就能在我与出版社商定的最后期限前完成并提交手稿。该专著由六个实质性章节组成。我已经完成了两章（每章15，000字），并将在2009年秋季沃里克大学授予的学习休假期间完成另外两章。如果这项建议获得接纳，我便可在研究假期计划期间完成余下的两章（加上引言和结语）。这本书将是对法律和文学领域现有跨学科奖学金的重大贡献。

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.