Shakespearean Echolalia: Autism and Versification inKing John

Abstract

In King John 3.1, Bastard speaks with a repetition I claim as autistic, specifically echolalia. Echolalia is an autistic speech pattern involving repetition of words and phrases; it is not unique to autism. Attention to versification in 3.1 reveals the ways in which echolalia challenges ableist norms of meaning and suggests fruitful cripped ways of understanding temporality and intentionality in Shakespearean verse speaking. This article analyses Shakespeare’s versification to unlock 3.1’s autistic potential, thereby opening space for future neurodiverse readers and performers to engage with Shakespearean echolalia.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 14 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.