Sovereignty, Communitarianism, and the Shakespeare Option

As against liberal and communitarian theories that there are subjectivities and forms of social life that are outside of and perhaps prior to the exercise of sovereign power, Shakespeare's plays are a valuable resource for diagnosing and accepting the inescapability, extent, and shaping power of sovereign power. But Shakespeare's plays also suggest that if it is not possible to escape sovereign power, then it is nevertheless possible to live with it in ways other than functional subordination. Specifically, Shakespeare's plays chart a strategy of treating sovereign power as a theatrical or even campy spectacle that can create aesthetic and even erotic effects in the characters on the stage—and perhaps, also, in the audience members.