Shakespeare's legal references and allusions constitute a complete catalogue of the substantive, social, institutional, and "professional" concerns of early modern English law. This encyclopaedia-style dictionary explores a wide range of formal, technical, historical, rhetorical and artistic issues, while maintaining regard for the fact that matters of social history cannot be ignored in discussions of either theater or law. New perspectives and questions are revealed concerning Shakespearean drama, early modern social life, legal thought, and their interactions.

Combines legal, historical and literary approaches to marriage in Shakespeare's time and in his plays.

Shakespeare's remarkable ability to detect and express important new currents and moods in his culture often led him to dramatise human interactions based on the presence or absence of tolerance. Differences of religion, gender, nationality and what is now called 'race' are important in most of Shakespeare's plays, and varied ways of bridging these differences by means of sympathy and understanding are often depicted. The full development of a tolerant society is still incomplete, and this study demonstrates how the perceptions Shakespeare showed in relation to its earlier development are...

Shakespeare's remarkable ability to detect and express important new currents and moods in his culture often led him to dramatise human interactions based on the presence or absence of tolerance. Differences of religion, gender, nationality and what is now called 'race' are important in most of Shakespeare's plays, and varied ways of bridging these differences by means of sympathy and understanding are often depicted. The full development of a tolerant society is still incomplete, and this study demonstrates how the perceptions Shakespeare showed in relation to its earlier development are...