How did Patricia Parker use the word preposterous to analyze Shakespeare’s plays?

In her work Shakespeare from the Margins: Language, Culture, Context, Patricia Parker utilizes the term "preposterous" to demonstrate the deconstruction of language and meaning within Shakespeare’s plays.1

Rather than using the modern definition of "absurd" or "contrary to reason," Parker focuses on the word's literal etymological roots, which signify "behind for before," "back for front," or "second for first". By identifying this term throughout the plays, she highlights a recurring rhetorical and structural device that suggests a reversal of order—such as putting the cart before the horse or placing the end before the beginning.21

Parker argues that this "preposterous" inversion serves as a powerful indicator of disorder across various dimensions of the plays, including:

• Discourse: Disruptions in the expected flow of language and logic.1
• Social Structures: Challenges to established rights of inheritance.1
• Relationships: Subversions of traditional sexual and social hierarchies, often carrying obscene overtones.1

Through this analysis, Parker illustrates how Shakespeare’s language is characterized by a "protean flexibility," where the instability of meaning creates layers of nuance and complexity.1