Shakespeare As A Lawyer

Shakespeare is one of the greatest English poets and dramatists during theRenaissance period. As a literary giant, Shakespeare has left the world a huge legacywith several dozens of his plays and beautifully versed sonnets. He has exertedprofound impact upon the history of human thoughts and civilization. Meanwhile, hisinfluence on legal causes and legal language has also been gradually felt bycontemporary lawyers and scholars, especially after the development of Law andLiterature Movement in the United States of America. Thus, this thesis is aimed atexploring Shakespeare’s identity as a lawyer from the following aspects: the frequentuse of legal phraseologies and the representation of legal ideologies among the wordsand between the lines in most of his plays. A summary of previous achievements inthe study of the relationship between Shakespeare and law has been provided toillustrate the author’s preoccupation and fascination with the topic, and a quantitativeanalysis of the legal matters and legal language (especially in terms of legalphraseologies) is carried out to arrive at the conclusion that Shakespeare is a lawyer inaddition to a literary giant. The author hopes this may help further promote thedevelopment of Law and Literature in China.