Introduction

Abstract

The traditional view that reveres the excellency of Shakespeare’s language and idealises his drama as the perfection of English literature is alive and well today. This is an effect of the canonisation of his works from the eighteenth century, where Shakespeare has become a measure of the English language and owner of the vernacular. These entrenched attitudes prevent us from seeing the actual substance of the text, and the various types of error that it contains and even constitute it. This chapter presents the neglected category of error and introduces why it is significant in understanding Shakespeare’s drama from literary, political and material angles.