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Swearing and Perjury in Shakespeare's Plays

Frances A Shirley author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:15th Aug '14

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Swearing and Perjury in Shakespeare's Plays cover

First published in 1979.

How do the elements of swearing and perjury work in Shakespeare's plays? What effect did Shakespeare intend when he wrote them? How did they contribute to the delineation of character? These questions are investigated by combining a history of ideas approach with close textual analysis.

The book begins by bringing together material from a wide range of contemporary sources in order to create a sense of popular awareness of oaths in Queen Elizabeth's time. Out of this emerges a scale of the relative strength of various oaths, an awareness of the ways in which people regarded perjury, and an appreciation of the attempts to prohibit profanity. Shakespeare's work is then examined against this background.

ISBN: 9781138010321

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 249g

188 pages