Shakespeare Love and Language

What is the nature of romantic love and erotic desire in Shakespeare''s work? In this erudite and yet accessible study David Schalkwyk addresses this question by exploring the historical contexts theory and philosophy of love. Close readings of Shakespeare''s plays and poems are delivered through the lens of historical texts from Plato to Montaigne and modern writers including Jacques Lacan Jean-Luc Marion Ludwig Wittgenstein Jacques Derrida Alain Badiou and Stanley Cavell. Through these studies it is argued that Shakespeare has no single or overarching concept of love and that in Shakespeare''s work love is not an emotion. Rather it is a form of action and disposition to be expressed and negotiated linguistically.