The loss of legitimacy and the politics of commodity dissected

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Lake
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Richard Ii ◽  
Henry V ◽  
Personal Virtue ◽  
Henry Iv ◽  
King John

This chapter argues that the attachment to a version of the Essexian and Stuart loyalist projects imputed to both King John and Richard II continued to animate the Henry IV plays and Henry V, which returned to the question of how, through the political and personal virtue and prowess of particular human agents, a polity plunged into the moral and political chaos of commodity politic might be returned to legitimate monarchical rule. They did so, through both a chronological continuation of the events staged in Richard II and a reworking of themes and tropes, questions and, indeed, answers, central to King John. In particular the central problematic addressed by these plays, and allegedly resolved in the persona of Hal/Henry, involved the ways in which the politics of honour, of martial virtue and prowess, could be combined both with the politics of popularity and of monarchical legitimacy.

Imperial Power

2020 ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Alessio Fiore
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Total Change ◽  
Henry V ◽  
Full Control ◽  
Henry Iv ◽  
Imperial Power ◽  
The Moment

Chapter 2 looks at imperial policies in Italy of Henry III, Henry IV, and Henry V, discussing especially their impact on the political make-up of the countryside. The focus is on how emperors attempted to keep control of their Italian resources and infrastructures (palaces and fiscal patrimony) as opposed to the vicissitudes of the ideological and propaganda struggle with the pope which has received more attention in historiography. Henry IV, in particular, adopted an aggressive policy towards his Italian opponents such as Adelaide of Torino and Matilda of Canossa, refusing to recognize the heirs of the former and deposing the latter. The result in both cases was the destruction of the coherence of two vast regional principalities. The author makes the important point that at first the emperors were not hostile to new emerging city communes and granted them rights in return for support and assistance (though later emperors, most notably Frederick I, would have a total change of mind in this regard). The author sees the moment in which cities began to take full control of the affairs seeing it as occurring during the reign of Henry V (1111–25) rather than in 1140–50, as usually believed.

Telling the Story: Shakespeare's Histories in Performance

1990 ◽  
Vol 6 (23) ◽  
pp. 207-214
Author(s):  
Andrew Jarvis
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
History Plays ◽  
English History ◽  
Richard Ii ◽  
Richard Iii ◽  
Henry V ◽  
Royal Shakespeare Company ◽  
Wars Of The Roses ◽  
Henry Iv ◽  
Henry Vi

The English Shakespeare Company was founded in 1986 by Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington with a commitment to take large-scale productions to regional venues. Henry IV, Parts One and Two and Henry V opened at the Plymouth Theatre Royal in November 1986 under the title The Henrys: they were then staged at the Old Vic and toured extensively. In December 1987 Richard II, with a two-part adaptation of the three parts of Henry VI (House of Lancaster and House of York) and Richard III, were added to the previous trilogy to create a complete cycle of history plays – The Wars of the Roses. The cycle was toured in England and abroad before playing at the Old Vic in the spring of 1989. It has since been filmed for television by Portman Productions. The only comparable treatment of the histories in the theatre took place at Stratford in 1964. when Peter Hall and John Barton staged seven plays as a sequence spanning English history from the reign of Richard II to the downfall of Richard III. Andrew Jarvis has been with the English Shakespeare Company since 1986 when he played Gadshill, Douglas, Harcourt, and the Dauphin. He has since played Exton, Hotspur, and Richard III. In 1988 he won the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Actor in a Visiting Production for his portrayal of Richard III. Prior to joining the ESC he had played many roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Here, he is interviewed by Stephen Phillips, lecturer in drama at the College of St Mark and St John, Plymouth, who is currently preparing a study of Shakespeare's history cycles in performance in the twentieth century.

Hark what discord follows

1980 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Ian Linklater
Keyword(s):  
Richard Ii ◽  
Richard Iii ◽  
Henry V ◽  
Wars Of The Roses ◽  
Henry Iv ◽  
Henry Vi ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second Tetralogy

"Richard II" is the first play in the second Tetralogy or group of plays broadly about the history of England from 1399 to 1415. It is followed by the two parts of Henry IV and climaxes in the so-called English Epic play Henry V. The first Tetralogy, obviously written before, comprises the three parts of Henry VI and culminates in "Richard III" and deals with the period of the Wars of the Roses from 1420 to the accession of Henry Tudor in 1485, which final date marks the beginning of the Tudor Dynasty.

Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. IV: "King John," "Henry IV," "Henry V," "Henry VIII"

Books Abroad ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 315
Author(s):  
John P. Cutts ◽  
Geoffrey Bullough
Keyword(s):  
Henry Viii ◽  
Henry V ◽  
Henry Iv ◽  
King John

Hamlet and the Sovereignty of Reasons

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Knapp
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
History Plays ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Richard Ii ◽  
Henry V ◽  
The People ◽  
Cast Doubt

AbstractWhy does Shakespeare link the psychological disintegration of Hamlet with the political disintegration of Denmark? This essay answers that question by comparing Shakespeare's tragedy to his later history plays, which foreshadow the “antic” Prince Hamlet in the “frantic” King Richard II and the “madcap” Prince Hal. All of these plays insist that a monarch pays a heavy price for claiming that he represents and even embodies the people he rules: he comes to feel internally divided, multiplicitous, populous. But the plays also cast doubt on the ability of the people to achieve any greater coherence as a sovereign power. ThroughHenry VandHamletin particular, Shakespeare offers the theater as a model of powersharingamong diverse forces: not only the monarch and the people, but also the actors, the audience, and the author.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document