Exile defines the Shakespearean canon, from The Two Gentlemen of Verona to The Two Noble Kinsmen . This book traces the influences on the drama of exile, examining the legal context of banishment (pursued against Catholics, gypsies and vagabonds) in early modern England; the self-consciousness of exile as an amatory trope; and the discourses by which exile could be reshaped into comedy or tragedy. Across genres, Shakespeare's plays reveal a fascination with exile as the source of linguistic crisis, shaped by the utterance of that word 'Banished'.

Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction That One Word "Banishèd": Linguistic Crisis in Romeo and Juliet 'Still-Breeding Thoughts': Richard II and the Exile's Creative Failure Historical-Pastoral Exile in Henry IV 'Hereafter, in a Better World Than This': The End of Exile in As You Like It and King Lear Coriolanus : The Banishment of Rome 'A World Elsewhere': Magic, Colonialism and Exile in The Tempest Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index