"Not Honored with a Human Shape": Language and the Construction of Shakespeare's Monstrous Bodies
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Authors
Amanda Baker
Issue Date
2026
Type
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Though Shakespeare is an author often recognized for his artistic elevation of the human experience within his works, existing at the margins of these works are characters who are, in some way, “unhuman.” The world of Shakespeare is one ruled by language and the meanings and assumptions that come attached to it, and for the monstrous bodies of that world, that language is used to write meanings onto those bodies to separate them from the normative. These characters’ bodies are marked, written on in a way that bears significance to the larger narrative and the structures the characters exist within. The word "monster" appears in Shakespeare's works a total of 74 times, and the word "monstrous" a total of 60. These words, like the concept they describe, are rich with meaning, and the monstrous bodies of these works – the racialized monstrosity of Shylock and Caliban and the political monstrosity of Richard III, – signify something of profound importance and define the boundaries of the human. “‘Not Honored with a Human Shape’: Language and the Construction of Shakespeare’s Monstrous Bodies” analyzes how Shakespeare uses language and the associations that come with it to construct these monstrous bodies, what that monstrosity signifies, and how the characters utilize language to navigate possessing bodies that are marked. Language becomes a tool for contesting and resisting the marked bodies these characters possess, but as this language is itself grounded in the body, the agency it provides is unstable. Though these monsters exist at the margins of Shakespeare’s works, their existence reveals the profound significance language and the body hold throughout these works as a means of dominating, resisting, and defining the boundaries of humanity.