Seneca’s Metamorphoses, from Chaucer to Shakespeare

Abstract

The Roman author of tragedies entered the Italian, French and English stages through the works of jurists. Lawyers, law and judgment played a significant part in his progress through the Middle Ages down to Shakespeare, down to us now through layers of time and critical approaches. How far Seneca influenced the English playwright, from the shrill calls for revenge of the early plays to the later debates on justice, in trial scenes performed before audiences playing judge and jury, that remains the question to be discussed here.