The Suspension of Habeas Corpus and Narrative Proliferation in Wordsworth's The Borderers

Author: Norris Cara  

Publisher: Routledge Ltd

ISSN: 1050-9585

Source: European Romantic Review, Vol.17, Iss.2, 2006-04, pp. : 197-203

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

On May 23, 1794, the bill to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act became law; its suspension was one of the measures championed by Pitt to give the government more power to combat the dangers they saw posed by organizations like the London Corresponding Society. This particular reaction to fears about the contagiousness of French revolutionary consciousness plays a structural role in the plot of The Borderers: the suspension of habeas corpus in Wordsworth's tragedy produces a proliferation of narratives that speak around the suspect, without addressing their accusations to him or her directly. This essay investigates Wordsworth's representation of the social paranoia arising from the suspension of habeas corpus and its manifestation in the proliferation of narratives that transform what should be a direct interaction (question and answer between judge and accused) into an explosion of doublings that repeat the first misuse of power in the play's backstory.