Examines cultural constructions of the body in 16th and 17th century England with specific reference to the works of William Shakespeare. The work argues that socially hierarchical conceptions of appropriate comportment were irreducible from embodied traits for the early modern English, in turn tying bodily difference to the threats posed by persons coded as non-normative. The book engages discussions in the fields of Shakespeare studies, embodiment, drama, social history, and early modern England.