Courtships, Marriage Customs, and Shakespeare's Comedies

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Loreen L. Giese

   Pages 1-14

3. Choosing a Spouse

   • Loreen L. Giese

   Pages 15-47

4. Determining Marital Suitability

   • Loreen L. Giese

   Pages 49-80

5. Courting Behaviors: Talking, Tokens, and Touching

   • Loreen L. Giese

   Pages 81-112

6. Contracting Couples: Vows, Hand Holding, and Gift Giving

   • Loreen L. Giese

   Pages 113-157

7. Postscript: Assessing Public Fame and Mapping the Matrimonial Maze

   • Loreen L. Giese

   Pages 159-162

8. Back Matter

   Pages 163-217

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Loreen L. Giese's study of over 5000 important folios of court depositions contemporary with Shakespeare's plays demonstrates the complex ways those plays participate in and comment upon their culture, rather than stand apart from it. Both the court records and the plays present women as agents who are capable of challenging their traditional roles.

• England
• marriage
• William Shakespeare
• women
• British and Irish Literature

"Giese offers a strong and richly-evidenced argument, and the fundamental research will not soon be outdated or overtaken. This book will be a valuable addition to the bookshelf of scholars of early modern marriage, London, and Shakespeare." - Vanessa Harding, Birkbeck, University of London.

"The material in the London Consistory Court depositions is fascinating-it provides a rare opportunity to hear voices of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries talking about details of personal lives." - Linda Woodbridge, Pennsylvania State University

LOREEN L. GIESE is Assistant Professor of English at Ohio University, USA.

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