Bucknell Studies in Eighteenth Century Literature and Culture
1 total work
Taking literally Joanna Baillie's claim that drama can promote social justice, "Symbolic Interactions" explores how plays by Baillie, novels by Walter Scott, and "Imaginary Conversations" by Walter Savage Landor address problems of capital punishment, poverty, and political participation. Baillie's and Scott's preoccupation with affective responses to criminals and beggars takes on new significance when situated next to nationalist efforts to use legal differences to promulgate an image of Scotland as a more compassionate society than England and when contrasted with Landor's confidence in political claims-making to meet social needs.