Autobiography in Shakespeare's Plays: «Lands so by his father lost» (Studies in Shakespeare)
«From November 1604 until Shrove Tuesday 1605 the Master of the Revels chose to stage seven of Shakespeare’s plays, all dealing with justice and law, equity and mercy, courts and jurisdiction: Othello, Merry Wives of Windsor, Measure for Measure, Comedy of Errors, Loves Labours Lost, Henry V, and Merchant of Venice. W. Nicholas Knight argues this was no coincidence: Tilney used the plays to teach the proper use of law to the new King James. In this pioneering study of Shakespeare’s life and work, Knight discovers new sources for the plays - the lawsuits and family concerns of Shakespeare himself, matters which may well have inspired Shakespeare then and heighten certain fresh thematics now. This is a unique work of legal history and theater criticism showing how each may illuminate the other.» (Arthur F. Kinney, Director, Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst)«W. Nicholas Knight has made exciting discoveries where law and literature intersect in Shakespeare’s plays. This book persuades me that the ‘allegory’ Shakespeare made of his life carries important and dynamic traces of the troubles, legal and familial, that beset the playwright’s daily thoughts in the 1590s and beyond. This is a pioneering work of scholarship and detection in the field!» (Tony Connor, Department of English, Wesleyan University, Connecticut)