SOURCE: McGrath, Juliet. “James Shirley's Uses of Language.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 6, no. 2 (spring 1966): 323-39.

In the following essay, McGrath argues that Shirley's works evidence a distrust of language that limits character development.

From the first of James Shirley's plays to the last, the word language occurs with surprising frequency, and his concern with language is one of the most interesting and revealing aspects of his work. Though synonyms such as dialect, words, or syllable are occasionally substituted in order to allow for less obvious repetition, there is not a single play in which the word language or its synonyms does not recur several times, and often, language itself is repeated three or four times within the compass of a few lines.¹ In addition to providing a valuable insight into the manner in which he establishes character and constructs plot, Shirley's concern with language exercises a significant...