This article looks at how Spenser’s desire for an English national identity, rooted in a “kingdom of our own language,” is realized in Shakespeare’s works. I track the way early modern systems of power have used language as a colonial weapon and show how Shakespeare demonstrates the problematic effects of imagining language as a scaffold to hold oppressive social structures—such as class, gender, and nationality—in place. Throughout his works—comedies, tragedies, and histories alike—Shakespeare consistently plays with the notion that there is a “right” and a “wrong” way to speak, and I argue he connects these definitions with the colonial notion of a “right” and a “wrong” way to be “English”. The article examines language as space, in which “English” and “England” become synonymous. It explores language as a shared national identity in which language belongs to physical spaces as well as to peoples and a more abstract notion of nation. It explores the colonial imposition of the English language on indigenous populations that map the expansion of the known world in the early modern era, and looks at the tensions between the English and the Welsh—and their respective languages—in Shakespeare’s plays. Ultimately, shows us the inevitable victims of linguistic nationalism and draws attention to England’s long history of using language as a tool of abuse, oppression, and control.

本文着眼于莎士比亚的作品如何实现斯宾塞对英国民族身份的渴望，这种渴望源于“我们自己的语言王国”。我追踪了早期现代权力系统使用语言作为殖民武器的方式，并展示了莎士比亚如何展示将语言想象成一个脚手架以保持压迫性社会结构（如阶级，性别和国籍）的问题。在他的所有作品中（喜剧，悲剧和历史都一样），莎士比亚始终坚持说“正确”和“错误”的说话方式，而我认为他将这些定义与“正确”的殖民观念联系在一起。和“错误的”方式成为“英语”。本文将语言视为空间，“英语”和“英国”在其中成为同义词。它探索语言作为一种共享的民族身份，其中语言既属于物质空间，又属于民族，也属于更抽象的民族概念。它探讨了英语对土著人口的殖民化强加作用，这些人口图描绘了近代早期已知世界的扩展，并探讨了莎士比亚戏剧中英语与威尔士语及其各自语言之间的紧张关系。最终，向我们展示了语言民族主义的不可避免的受害者，并提请人们注意英格兰使用语言作为滥用，压迫和控制工具的悠久历史。并考察莎士比亚戏剧中英语和威尔士语及其各自语言之间的紧张关系。最终，向我们展示了语言民族主义的不可避免的受害者，并提请人们注意英格兰使用语言作为滥用，压迫和控制工具的悠久历史。并考察莎士比亚戏剧中英语和威尔士语及其各自语言之间的紧张关系。最终，向我们展示了语言民族主义的不可避免的受害者，并提请人们注意英格兰使用语言作为滥用，压迫和控制工具的悠久历史。