During the Elizabethan era, writers such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney, Daniel, and others frequently expounded on mercy, exploring the sources and outcomes of clemency. This fresh reading of such depictions shows that the concept of mercy was a contested one, directly shaped by tensions over the exercise of judgment by a woman on the throne.

Autorentext
Mary Villeponteaux is Associate Professor of Literature at Georgia Southern University, USA.

Inhalt

1. "By Nature Full of Mercy": The Clemency of the Queen 2. "Proud and Pitilesse": Elizabethan Mercy and the Sonnet Tradition 3. "A Goodly Musicke in Her Regiment": Elizabethan Justice in The Merchant of Venice 4. "A Due Sincerity Governed His Deeds": Equity, Gender, and Privacy 5. "My Nobler Reason": Masculine Mercy After Elizabeth