Law in Literature: Legal Themes in Drama

Man’s fascination with story-telling and with the law is nowhere more apparent than in the plays which are representative of any place or time in history. This anthology commences with the Greek plays The Eumenides by Aeschylus and Antigone by Sophocles, plays which give us a glimpse of Greek thoughts on justice and which offer insight into their contemplation of obedience to Divine and positive laws. These plays are followed by Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure, plays dealing with British concepts of justice. Massinger’s The Fatal Dowry and Lillo’s The London Merchant then provide a later look at English notions of crime and its causes. Finally Susan Gaspell’s Trifles and Lou Rivers’ This Piece of Land show 20th century America dealing with notions of equality and discrimination. Each play is followed by short comments and questions raised by the reading of these plays.