Alice Leonard
Doctoral Researcher in English Literature
Supervisors: Prof. Thomas Docherty and Dr. Margaret Tudeau-Clayton (Neuchâtel)
Thesis Title: Shakespeare Beyond Rhetoric: Error in Early Modern Drama, with Reference to Shakespeare
My thesis is a study of error in the early modern period, with particular focus on Shakespeare. The first aim is to establish how error was understood in the early modern period in literary, political, generic and textual contexts, and how these differ from our present-day theories. The second aim is to understand how Shakespeare uses error to overturn the assumptions of Renaissance rhetoric that prize clear and distinct speech.
The first section explores the representation of foreign language as error in Henry V and The Dutch Courtesan, where foreign language is mixed with English. The second section examines The Comedy of Errors, arguing that textual errors multiply conceptual error, complicating the editorial excision of these ‘mistakes’. The third section presses an important early modern meaning of ‘error’, not as incorrect but as wandering in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The final part moves from the histories and comedies to Shakespeare’s tragedies, exploring the nature of the difference between comic and tragic error.
Research Interests
I am interested in Shakespeare, Renaissance drama, theories of error and textual criticism. More broadly, I am interested in metaphor, multilingualism, and twentieth and twenty-first century literary theory.
Academic Background
BA in English Literature and Philosophy, University of Wales, Cardiff
MA in English Literature, Shakespeare: History and Theory, University of Wales, Cardiff
Contact me:
A dot K dot Leonard at warwick dot ac dot uk
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