Shakespeare and Renaissance Ethics examines representations of moral choice in Shakespeare's plays, focusing on intellectual history, Montaigne, and Christian ethics.

Introduction: rethinking Shakespeare and ethics Patrick Gray and John D. Cox; Part I. Shakespeare and Classical Ethics: 1. Fame, eternity, and Shakespeare's Romans Gordon Braden; 2. Shakespeare and the ethics of laughter Indira Ghose; 3. Aristotelian shame and Christian mortification in Love's Labour's Lost Jane Kingsley-Smith; 4. Shakespeare's Vergil: empathy and The Tempest Leah Whittington; Part II. Shakespeare and Christian Ethics: 5. Shakespeare's prayers John D. Cox; 6. The morality of milk: Shakespeare and the ethics of nursing Beatrice Groves; 7. Hamlet the rough-hewer: moral agency and the consolations of Reformation thought Russell M. Hillier; 8. 'Wrying but a little'? Marriage, punishment, and forgiveness in Cymbeline Robert S. Miola; Part III. Shakespeare and the Ethical Thinking of Montaigne: 9. 'Hide thy selfe': Montaigne, Hamlet, and Epicurean ethics Patrick Gray; 10. Conscience and the god-surrogate in Montaigne and Measure for Measure William M. Hamlin; 11. Shakespeare, Montaigne, and classical reason Peter Holbrook; 12. Madness, proverbial wisdom, and philosophy in King Lear Peter Mack.