crime and punishment
crime and punishment.During the 1580s, poaching was punishable with both a fine and three months' imprisonment. It should not be surprising, then, that we have no certain knowledge whether Shakespeare actually risked that penalty by his alleged activities at Charlecote. It is always easier to write the history of punishment than that of crime, because crime prefers to keep itself hidden, whereas punishment is a matter of public record. This was all the more true in Shakespeare's time, when punishment, as an instrument of authority used to control disorder, dissent, and deviance, was a regular and highly visible fact of life: boys were publicly beaten at school, prostitutes and vagrants whipped through the city streets, and petty offenders exposed to shame and pelting in the stocks or pillory, while crowds of both sexes would gather to witness felons and traitors meeting their end on the gallows.
During Shakespeare's adult life, public opinion became...
[The entire page is 864 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
