Abstract
If the characters in Shakespearean drama were marionettes pulled about by the strings of heredity and environment as are the literary creatures of Gorki, Strindberg, and Zola, to propose such a study as this would indeed be an absurdity. In general, the sense of moral responsibility is lacking in much of the literature of the past century. Not so in the drama of Shakespeare, which artistically presents ethical standards, sin, acknowledgment of sin, remorse, confession, amendment, and atonement. It is precisely the blatant contrast in awareness of morality between modem literature and the works of the great Elizabethan playwright which has prompted the following consideration of repentance in Shakespeare's plays.