Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- PART I The rhetoric of politeness -- CHAPTER 1 Politeness and dramatic character in Henry VIII -- POLITENESS THEORY -- POSITIVE POLITENESS -- NEGATIVE POLITENESS -- SPEECH POSITION AND CHARACTER -- SPEECH POSITION AND CLASS TRAJECTORY -- CHAPTER 2 ''Power to hurt'': language and service in Sidney household letters and Shakespeare's sonnets -- THE INSTITUTION OF SERVICE AND ITS AMBIGUITIES -- SOCIAL RELATION AS STYLISTIC DETERMINANT -- MARY SIDNEY'S SITUATED ELOQUENCE -- NEGATIVE POLITENESS AND SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS -- PART II Eloquent relations in letters -- CHAPTER 3 Scripting social relations in Erasmus and Day -- RHETORICAL FORM AND ''THE LIVING MODEL OF THE LETTER'' -- ''TO SHARE SPEECH IN COMMON WITH OTHERS'': SCRIPTING LIFE ROLES -- SCRIPTS FOR POSITIVE POLITENESS -- ANGEL DAY: REPRODUCING SOCIAL RELATIONS -- INTERACTION SCRIPTS -- An Epistle Petitorie, wherein is craved travell and counsell to be assistant upon urgent occasion -- A Letter responsorie to the same -- CHAPTER 4 Reading courtly and administrative letters -- THE PERSONAL LETTER AS ADMINISTRATIVE INSTRUMENT -- TROUBLE-MAKING AND TROUBLE-TAKING -- THE PROFITS OF FRIENDSHIP -- CHAPTER 5 Linguistic stratification, merchant discourse, and social change -- SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND LINGUISTIC DOMINATION -- STRANGE SHORES, FAMILIAR STYLES -- DISPUTING THE ''PLEASURES'' STYLE -- PART III A prosaics of conversation -- CHAPTER 6 The pragmatics of repair in King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing -- INTERSUBJECTIVITY AND CONVERSATION IN KING LEAR -- REPETITION AND REPAIR IN MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING -- CHAPTER 7 ''Voice potential'': language and symbolic capital in Othello -- Notes -- INTRODUCTION -- 1 POLITENESS AND DRAMATIC CHARACTER IN HENRY VIII.

2 ''POWER TO HURT'': LANGUAGE AND SERVICE IN SIDNEY HOUSEHOLD LETTERS AND SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS -- 3 SCRIPTING SOCIAL RELATIONS IN ERASMUS AND DAY -- 4 READING COURTLY AND ADMINISTRATIVE LETTERS -- 5 LINGUISTIC STRATIFICATION, MERCHANT DISCOURSE, AND SOCIAL CHANGE -- 6 THE PRAGMATICS OF REPAIR IN KING LEAR AND MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING -- 7 ''VOICE POTENTIAL'': LANGUAGE AND SYMBOLIC CAPITAL IN OTHELLO -- Bibliography -- PRIMARY SOURCES -- SECONDARY SOURCES -- Index.