| Many of Shakespeare's plays contain trial scenes, turn upon questions of legitimacy, or consider the relation of positive law to the laws of nature. Whereas in the histories and tragedies, laws of succession and war are prominent, in the problem plays it is contracts, bonds, and sureties that play key roles. All are instruments that ensure a changed relationship between parties: contracts create unions; bonds and sureties engage one person to stand as a guaranty for another. In Shakespeare, the terms are primarily reserved for the contexts of marriage and fellowship. Depending upon their use, they may work for good or evil, solving the play's problems or causing them.; After an introductory chapter that outlines the history of contractual obligations in Renaissance England, especially with regard to marriage, the dissertation is divided into four chapters. In Measure for Measure , the elemental deficiencies of two marriage contracts highlights a disjunction between res and verba characteristic of the society at large. Elements of publicity, value, performance, and tokens, are ultimately brought together to achieve contractual integrity. This in turn provides integrity not only to the marriages, but also to the community as a whole. In Troilus and Cressida, on the other hand, the marriage contract is mocked. Rather than accomplish union, the perversion of the contractual elements reflects a societal disjunction that is never corrected. In The Merchant of Venice, the interrelationship of contracts, bonds, and sureties reflects two different orientations regarding nature and life. One bond enables a marriage contract; the other seeks to undo its happiness. In All's Well That Ends Well , contractual performance is frustrated for a time, and the regeneration of society is denied as a result. A contractual agent ultimately rectifies this state of affairs, reorienting the society away from barrenness and death, and towards nature and life. The concluding chapter explains how Shakespeare uses the legal instruments in these and other plays to accomplish an integrity that is all-important for a generative, life-affirming society. |
