Abstract
The extremes of sectarian fanaticism and Machiavellian relativism were both prominent in Shakespeare's day. It was an era of religious strife, incipient nationalism, growing monarchical absolutism, and also of “liberated” Machiavellian cynicism and “will to power”—no “golden age” of moral certainty and equanimity. Somehow, the literary genius of Shakespeare not only avoided these extremes or heresies but implicitly or explicitly critiqued them all, providing a permanent legacy of vivid moral commentary, exhortation, and illustration. This legacy has had an incalculably great ethical influence on the thought, sensibility, and education of English-speaking peoples across four centuries and several continents. Particularly in its nondenominational critique of relativism, it is a precious educational resource that eloquently affirms the fundamental reality of ethics for the person who would be truly human. Ordered liberty is always imperilled by its counterfeit and competitor—licentious libertinism. Shakespeare loved the former and hated the latter, with enduring effect.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.