The Tears of Sovereignty: Perspectives of Power in Renaissance Drama

2Reanimation: The Logic of Transfer in Measure for Measure

The chapter considers a first paradigm of sovereignty, focusing on the metaphor-logic of substitution that reanimates the body-of-power in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Shakespeare's only play with a religious title, Measure for Measure (1604), a foundational text for scholars working on political theology, asks us to think about the status, structure and above all staging of the law at an acute moment of national and international crisis. Viewing Measure in relation to the Act and writ of habeas corpus, the chapter shows how the "organ transplant" logic of representation staged in Measure for Measure effectively restores the law and satisfies sovereignty's desire to have the body.