Hamlet showed “the most thorough and complete knowledge of the and statute law of England, relating to the burial of suicides that has ever been written,” according to Guernsey Guernsey wrote in 1885 that Hamlet showed “the most thorough and complete knowledge of the and statute law of England, relating to the burial of suicides that has ever been written.” The alert reader may well respond, “What does the law of England, whether ecclesiastical or statutory, have to do with Hamlet, which takes place in Denmark?”
Ecclesiastical Law: Ophelia’s “Maimed Rites” This article briefly explores aspects of law in Hamlet: ecclesiastical law, law of homicide, property law and, more generally, law as an instrument of justice and revenge, and notes some of the parallels to legal issues that directly involved de Vere during his life. Many noblemen of his day studied at the Inns of Court and others, such as Francis Bacon, were greater legal minds than Oxford was likely to have been.īut Hamlet contains legal issues that parallel watershed events in Oxford’s life, particularly events that concerned homicide and property law. Of course, evidence of legal knowledge in Shakespeare’s plays does not prove that Oxford wrote the plays. De Vere also enrolled at the Inns of Court-Gray’s Inn, to be precise-where the common law of England was taught. We know that de Vere studied law from an early age with his tutor, Sir Thomas Smith. This casts doubt on the traditional theory that the man from Stratford wrote the plays of the Shakespeare canon.Īs well as analyzing the law in Hamlet, this article will consider how the evidence of legal knowledge in the play impacts the hypothesis, believed by many, that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, was the real genius behind Shakespeare’s plays. The subtlety and accuracy of the law in Hamlet suggest that its author had sophisticated legal training of the sort that comes from formal study, not casual conversation. But a closer look at the play shows that legal issues are integrated into the fabric of the drama at key points.
How does hamlet die trial#
It has no trial scenes, no discourses on the purposes of law and punishment, and no critique, as such, of the legal system. Hamlet is not, on its face, a “legal” play in the way that Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure are legal plays. Keywords: Shakespeare, Authorship Question, Hamlet, Hamlet and the law.
How does hamlet die professional#
Regnier’s permission, it is argued that Shakespeare’s knowledge of law was not only profound and professional but also far beyond anything that could be picked up casually by a writer simply doing research.
Originally published in the academic journal Brief Chronicles (2011: Vol. Abstract: This essay, by distinguished American legal scholar Thomas Regnier, looks at the extraordinary knowledge of the law that Shakespeare-whoever he was-displayed in numerous plays, especially Hamlet.