'Dressed in a Little Brief Authority': Authority Before, During, and After Shakespeare's Plays

Citation

Vine A & Halsey K (2018) 'Dressed in a Little Brief Authority': Authority Before, During, and After Shakespeare's Plays. In: Halsey K & Vine A (eds.) Shakespeare and Authority: Citations, Conceptions and Constructions. Palgrave Shakespeare Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57853-2_1

Abstract
This essay discusses the concept of authority from Shakespeare’s time to our own, considers examples of Shakespeare’s own explorations of authority, and provides a concise history of the ways in which Shakespeare has been constructed as cultural authority in different historical periods. It summarises the essays contained in the book, and argues that the book illuminates not only how Shakespeare became the archetypal figure of English cultural authority, but, perhaps more interestingly, why.

Keywords
Shakespeare; cultural authority; linguistic authority; canon formation; theatre; drama; history; textual authority

• Chapter 1.pdf