Download e-book for kindle: The Dynamics of Inheritance on the Shakespearean Stage by Michelle M. Dowd

Early smooth England's method of patrilineal inheritance, within which the eldest son inherited his father's property and name, used to be probably the most major forces affecting social order within the interval. Demonstrating that early glossy theatre performed a distinct and important function in shaping how inheritance used to be understood, Michelle M. Dowd explores a few of the universal contingencies that afflicted the program: marriage and remarriage, misbehaving male heirs, and households with basically daughters. Shakespearean drama helped query and reimagine inheritance practices, making room for brand spanking new formulations of gendered authority, kin constitution, and wealth move. via shut readings of canonical and non-canonical performs by way of Shakespeare, Webster, Jonson, and others, Dowd can pay specific consciousness to the importance of area in early smooth inheritance and the old dating among dramatic shape and the patrilineal economic system. Her publication will curiosity researchers and scholars of early smooth drama, Shakespeare, gender reports, and socio-economic history.