DOCSLIB.ORG

Public and Private Life in Shakespeare's English History Plays

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Public and Private Life in Shakespeare's English History Plays RICE UNIVERSITY Public and Private Life in Shakespeare's English History Plays by Carol Anita Little A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts Thesis Director's signature: Houston, Texas May, 1970 ABSTRACT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE IN SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLISH HISTORY PLAYS Carol Anita Little The purpose of this thesis is to show that the contrast between public and private life serves as a unifying theme in the eight plays that make up the two tetralogies (the three parts of Henry VI, and Richard III; and, Richard II, the two parts of Henry IV, and Henry V). An understanding of this dualism between public and private life may also contribute to the reader's appreciation of the social, political, and intellectual milieu in which the plays were written and may increase his understanding of the characters' psychological motivations. The first chapter is introductory in nature, setting forth the major features of the social and political theories which, for the Elizabethans, defined the public world. Marriage and the use of particular types of rhetoric are introduced in this chapter as "indicators" of a proper balance (or lack of it) between public and private portions of the characters' lives. The second chapter develops in greater detail the most important of these "indicators,1 the royal marriage. A character's marriage may serve as symbol of his private life indicating whether private matters are kept in a properly subordi¬ nate position, or the marriage may mirror or serve as analogue to his public life. Chapter III explores the desire for escape from public duties and re¬ sponsibilities that so many of the public figures in the histories exhibit. The type of escape desired is particularly interesting; it is most often escape into a world of the imagination, into dreams or into play-acting and make-believe. A detailed reading of Act I, scene ii of Richard III makes up the final chapter. This is an attempt to illustrate the added significance that may be gained through a consideration of the public/private theme in the history plays. CONTENTS Chapter I: The Public World ....... 1 Chapter II: The Royal Marriage 22 Chapter III: Escapism 41 Chapter IV: Richard and Anne 60 Bibliography 72 CHAPTER I: THE PUBLIC WORLD Of the ten plays in the Shakespeare canon that have English history as their theme, eight fall into two groups of four closely linked plays: the three parts of Henry VI, and Richard III; and Richard II, the two parts of Henry IV, and Henry V. Further, the two tetralogies make a single unit for they deal with a continuous period of history that is meant to be seen in its entirety. These plays present the period of civil strife between the houses of Lancaster and York (the Wars of the Roses) with the causes and the final resolution of that conflict. The second half of the story is dealt with in the first tetralogy. Some years later Shakespeare presented to his audiences the events leading up to the civil disorder that characterizes the Henry VI plays. But even though the plays were not written in chronological order, one may safely say that Shakespeare intended them to be seen as a unit. The plays of the first tetral¬ ogy refer repeatedly to events that were to make up the second group of plays. The opening lines of 1 Henry VI recall events only considered in the last play to be written, Henry V: Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! Comets importing change of times and states, Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky, And with them scourge the bad, revolting stars That have consented unto Henry's death! King Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long! England ne'er lost a king of so much worth. 1 2 And in the closing lines of Henry V, as Professor Tillyard notes, Shakespeare implies the continuity of the two tetralogies and accepts responsibility for all eight plays:^ Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd king Of France and England, did this king succeed; Whose state so many had the managing, That they lost France and made his England bleed: Which oft our stage hath shown; and for their sake In your fair minds let this acceptance take. Since these eight plays were seemingly intended as a unit, it is only reasonable to read them as one. Such reading reveals unifying patterns of imagery and thematic concepts as well as historically continuous subject matter. One of the thematic concepts that is observable in all the plays is that of the public life and its relationship to private life. This theme is particularly evident in the presentations of the kings themselves, but it appears in the lives of other public figures as well. The pervasiveness of the theme of public life versus private life in the plays which compose the two tetralogies is, partially at least, a result of the Elizabethan concern with the we 11-governed state and the ideal ruler. It seems very likely that Shakespeare's history plays had a didactic purpose. In portray¬ ing the causes and horrors of civil war on stage Elizabethan playwrights warned their audiences of the eviI that could result from rebellion. 3 A didactic intent on the part of Shakespeare would imply that there was, for him, a proper rela¬ tionship between the public and private parts of the life of a public figure. And the plays bear this out. There is a proper balance between public and private / 3 life to be defined from the examples presented in the Histories. But to define this balance one must first consider the public world of Shakespeare's English history plays. The concept of order in the plays is indispensable to an apprecia¬ tion of the proper relationship of public to private life . Doubtless, the theme of order is the greatest single theme to be found in the Histories; it defines the public world of the plays. This theme has been thoroughly investigated by many scholars, and a review of some of the major critical commentary on the concept of social and political order in the Histories will be useful. The most common viewpoint is that which defines the world order of the Histories according to the political and social orthodoxies of Shakespeare's day. This is the basis of E. M. W. Tillyard's book, The Elizabethan World Picture. He explains the concepts of the "Great Chain of Being" and the correspondent planes on which the universe was thought to be organized. Man, of course, occupied the central position in the chain, being between and yet linked to both the beasts and the angels. Correspondences were recognized between objects or beings which occupied the same place with respect to their particular planes. As Til I yard says: "God among the angels or all the works of creation" occupies the same position as "the sun among the stars, fire among the elements, the king in the state, the head in the body, justice among the virtues, the lion among the beasts, [or] the eagle among the birds." That these commonly held notions are evident in the history plays has been proved. One need only look at i 4 the comparison of the state to a beehive in Henry V or to the many instances in which correspondences form the basis of imagery . The king is often spoken of as a lion, the sun, a rose, or an eagle, and he is frequently being urged to be God¬ like in his exercise of power. The Elizabethans considered rebellion the greatest of sins for it destroyed all order and virtue . It was an example of the Luciferian sin of Pride and ushered in again that chaos from which God's created order had originally rescued the world. The doctrine of Divine Right was also current in Shakespeare's day,^ and it, of course, augmented the horror of rebellion since opposition to a divinely appointed king had to be viewed as opposition to God himself. The only legiti¬ mate method of dealing with an unjust king was non-resistance. As John of Gaunt says to the injured Duchess of Gloucester: God's is the quarrel; for God's substitute, His deputy anointed in his sight, Hath caused his death: the which if wrongfully, Let heaven revenge; for I may never lift An angry arm against His minister. (Richard II, I .ii.37-41). The whole of this theory has become increasingly commonplace to students of Shakespeare and of the Renaissance in general. The danger at present is in taking Tillyard's analysis of Shakespeare's political concepts and themes to be the total answer. To place Shakespeare without reservation always on the side of order and stability, to label him "pro-establishment" seems an oversimplification. One need look no farther than 1 Henry IV for an example. The similitude of the situations of Henry Bolingbroke when he rebelled against / 5 Richard II and Hotspur in his rebellion against Henry IV is noted in the play. Yet Shakespeare's treatment of these two rebels is not the same. Bolingbroke is given a generally sympathetic presentation—the legitimacy of his complaints and the appropriateness of his conduct are emphasized. Hotspur is treated as a hot¬ headed, blood-thirsty young militant. Shakespeare undeniably considers and portrays his characters and situations individually. To say he always took the part of the state against the rebels and usurpers, like a good Elizabethan, is not consistent with the evidence presented in the plays.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Child's Two Bodies: Shakespeare, Sovereignty, and the End Of
    7KH&KLOG૷V7ZR%RGLHV6KDNHVSHDUH6RYHUHLJQW\ DQGWKH(QGRI6XFFHVVLRQ Joseph Campana ELH, Volume 81, Number 3, Fall 2014, pp. 811-839 (Article) 3XEOLVKHGE\7KH-RKQV+RSNLQV8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV DOI: 10.1353/elh.2014.0034 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/elh/summary/v081/81.3.campana.html Access provided by Fondren Library, Rice University (29 Oct 2014 14:35 GMT) THE CHild’s Two Bodies: SHAKESPEARE, SOVEREIGNTY, AND THE END OF SUCCESSION BY JOSEPH CAMPANA The king is dead. Long live the child? In a dramatic canon full of the ghosts of dead fathers, William Shakespeare offers up tragic protagonists haunted by children. Desperate for assurances about his precarious political future, the monarch-murdering usurper Macbeth seeks out a second encounter with the infamous witches who prophesied his unexpected assump- tion of sovereignty. Macbeth meets Hecate herself and experiences visions of a crowned child, an armed head, a bloody babe, and a glorious future line of Scottish kings culminating in King James VI and I of Scotland and England.1 Pivotal to Macbeth is the question of what central characters do, or do not, see: gruesome witches, killing instruments, guilt-stained hands, ambulatory trees, and prophetic visions. In act 2, scene 1, Macbeth imagines or witnesses the weapon he will later use to slay King Duncan. “Is this a dagger which I see before me,” he famously asks, “The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. / I have thee not, and yet I see thee still” (2.1.1–3). Macbeth’s mysterious dagger, Lady Macbeth’s blood-soaked hands, Hecate’s visions of a bloody babe, a crowned child, an armed head, and a line of seven kings: the famous images that flicker in and out of sight in Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy I will describe as apparitions not of a state of mind but of the state itself.
    [Show full text]
  • For God's Sake, Let Us Sit Upon the Ground and Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Kings … -Richard II, Act III, Scene Ii
    The Hollow Crown is a lavish new series of filmed adaptations of four of Shakespeare’s most gripping history plays: Richard II , Henry IV, Part 1 , Henry IV, Part 2 , and Henry V , presented by GREAT PERFORMANCES . For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings … -Richard II, Act III, Scene ii 2013 WNET Synopsis The Hollow Crown presents four of Shakespeare’s history plays: Richard II , Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V . These four plays were written separately but tell a continuous story of the reigns of three kings of England. The first play starts in 1398, as King Richard arbitrates a dispute between his cousin Henry Bolingbroke and the Duke of Norfolk, which he resolves by banishing both men from England— Norfolk for life and Bolingbroke for six years. When Bolingbroke’s father dies, Richard seizes his lands. It’s the latest outrage from a selfish king who wastes money on luxuries, his favorite friends, and an expensive war in Ireland. Bolingbroke returns from banishment with an army to take back his inheritance and quickly wins supporters. He takes Richard prisoner and, rather than stopping at his own lands and privileges, seizes the crown. When one of Bolingbroke’s followers assassinates Richard, the new king claims that he never ordered the execution and banishes the man who killed Richard. Years pass, and at the start of Henry IV, Part 1 , the guilt-stricken king plans a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to wash Richard’s blood from his hands.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare's Warrior Kings
    Focus: Introduction to Shakespeare Stage 5 Yr 9 Duration: 6 weeks Karen Yager - Knox Grammar School - Created for the Premier’s Literature Scholarship Shakespeare’s Warrior Kings HENRY V MACBETH RICHARD III 1 Focus: Introduction to Shakespeare Stage 5 Yr 9 Duration: 6 weeks Karen Yager - Knox Grammar School - Created for the Premier’s Literature Scholarship Concept: Perceptions & Cross Curricular Outcomes Representation Literacy ICT A student: 1. responds to and composes increasingly Shakespeare’s Warrior Language modes sophisticated and sustained texts for Kings Reading/writing/speaking/listening/ understanding, interpretation, critical analysis viewing & representing and pleasure. Deep knowledge: Texts 2. uses and critically assesses a range of How context shapes Extracts from Shakespeare’s plays: processes for responding to and composing. perspectives and Macbeth 5.transfers understanding of language concepts representations Richard III into new and different contexts. Henry V 9. demonstrates understanding of the ways texts An appreciation of others’ As well as: reflect personal and public worlds. perspectives The documentary In Search of The power of language and Shakespeare images & K. Yager’s CD rom Rationale This stage 5 unit is designed as an introductory unit to Shakespeare focusing on his representation of the warrior kings. Students begin by exploring Shakespeare’s context through a web quest, a CD-Rom and the documentary In Search of Shakespeare. The students will closely examine some of the key extracts from the plays to appreciate the textual details and features, rhythm and the perspective. The students will explore others’ perspectives of the kings and how ideas and information can be constructed. As a lawyer representing the family of the king the students will research the historical version of the king and compare their findings with Shakespeare’s representation or create a visual representation for the Power House Museum that explores different perspectives.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare's
    Shakespeare’s Henry IV: s m a r t The Shadow of Succession SHARING MASTERWORKS OF ART April 2007 These study materials are produced for use with the AN EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH OF BOB JONES UNIVERSITY Classic Players production of Henry IV: The Shadow of Succession. The historical period The Shadow of Succession takes into account is 1402 to 1413. The plot focuses on the Prince of Wales’ preparation An Introduction to to assume the solemn responsibilities of kingship even while Henry IV regards his unruly son’s prospects for succession as disastrous. The Shadow of When the action of the play begins, the prince, also known as Hal, finds himself straddling two worlds: the cold, aristocratic world of his Succession father’s court, which he prefers to avoid, and the disreputable world of Falstaff, which offers him amusement and camaraderie. Like the plays from which it was adapted, The Shadow of Succession offers audiences a rich theatrical experience based on Shakespeare’s While Henry IV regards Falstaff with his circle of common laborers broad vision of characters, events and language. The play incorporates a and petty criminals as worthless, Hal observes as much human failure masterful blend of history and comedy, of heroism and horseplay, of the in the palace, where politics reign supreme, as in the Boar’s Head serious and the farcical. Tavern. Introduction, from page 1 Like Hotspur, Falstaff lacks the self-control necessary to be a produc- tive member of society. After surviving at Shrewsbury, he continues to Grieved over his son’s absence from court at a time of political turmoil, squander his time in childish pleasures.
    [Show full text]
  • Henry V Plays Richard II
    Colby Quarterly Volume 26 Issue 2 June Article 6 June 1990 "I will...Be like a king": Henry V Plays Richard II Barbara H. Traister Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cq Recommended Citation Colby Quarterly, Volume 26, no.2, June 1990, p.112-121 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Colby Quarterly by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Colby. Traister: "I will...Be like a king": Henry V Plays Richard II "I will . .. Be like a king": Henry V Plays Richard II by BARBARA H. TRAISTER N BOTH RichardII and Henry v, the first and last plays ofthe second tetralogy, I kings engage in highly theatrical activity. Each play, however, has a very different metadramatic focus. In Richard II acting becomes a metaphor for the way Richard sees himself. The focus of audience attention is the narcissistic royal actor whose principal concern is his own posturing and who is his own greatest, and eventually only, admirer. Richard is an actor and dramatist, the embodiment of Elizabeth I's comment: "We Princes, I tell you, are set on stages, in the sight and view of all the world duly observed" (quoted in Neale 1957,2:19). However, his self-ab­ sorption and blindness to the world around him lead the audience to make few, if any, connections between him and the actor-dramatist who created him. The play is nearly empty of self-reflexive dramatic overtones despite its complex portrait of a player king.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard III: Villain and Educator
    Richard III: Villain and Educator Marleen Janssen, 3880176 Master thesis English language and culture: education and communication Utrecht University Supervisor: Prof. Dr. A. J. Hoenselaars Second supervisor: Dr. Paul Franssen British English July 2014 1 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical Framework 2.1. Requirements of the Common European Framework of References and the Dutch literature curriculum when it comes to English literature teaching at Dutch secondary schools 2.2. What are the key themes of Richard III? 2.3. How can the character of Richard III be explained? 3. Analysis 3.1. Earlier didactic methods 3.2. Lesson plans 3.3. Analysis of the lesson plans: which didactic methods from the literature can be found in the lesson plans? 3.4. Exemplary lesson plan based on the literature 3.5. Analysis of the questionnaire 4. Conclusion 5. Discussion 6. Bibliography 7. Appendices 2 1. Introduction When teaching English at secondary schools in The Netherlands certain levels of reading proficiency must be accomplished by the Dutch pupils. One of the goals of the Common European Framework of References and the Dutch literature curriculum is that secondary school pupils have to have been taught literature from different literary ages, such as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and 20th Century Literature. However, this poses a problem: how does one present the literature of difficult periods to secondary school pupils who do not have C1 or C2 proficiency in English? In The Netherlands, English is taught as a foreign language. This means that it is almost impossible for the Dutch pupils to reach C1 or C2 language proficiency in English in secondary school.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 an AGE of KINGS (BBC TV, 1960) Things Have Moved on in Fifty Years
    1 AN AGE OF KINGS (BBC TV, 1960) BBC VIDEO 5 disc set; ISBN 1-4198-7901-4, Region 1 only Tom Fleming, Robert Hardy Things have moved on in fifty years. In 1960 (I was sixteen), we didn’t have a television, and I had to prevail upon my school-friends to let me cycle round to their houses every alternate Thursday to watch this series. 1 Now, I can sit in my armchair and watch it straight through on my computer on DVD, with sound coming through the headphones. I count An Age of Kings as the single most important cultural event in my entire life, more important even than being in Trevor Nunn’s first-ever Shakespeare production ( Hamlet ) the previous year. It taught me what Shakespeare was about, and I’ve never forgotten it. Over ten years ago, seeing that it was on at the NFT, I went down to see some odd bits. Approaching Michael Hayes, the director, I said, “What you did here provided me with the single most important cultural event of my life”. He looked at me suspiciously: “You seem a bit young to say that”, he said, and turned away. I went up to Peter Dews, the producer: “What you did here provided me with the single most important cultural event of my life” – “Good!” he grunted, and turned away. So much for the creative team. Were they really as boring as that in 1960? (In fact Dews died shortly after our brief chat.) Paul Daneman said in an accompanying NFT lecture that the cast spent every morning talking, and didn’t start rehearsals till after lunch.
    [Show full text]
  • Ricardian Register
    Ricardian Register Richard III Society, Inc. Vol. 45 No. 2 June, 2014 Richard III Forever Printed with permission l Mary Kelly l Copyright © 2012 In this issue: Crosby Place: A Ricardian Residence Essay: Shakespeare's Hollywood vs. History Ricardian Review 2014 AGM Inside cover (not printed) Contents Crosby Place: A Ricardian Residence 2 Essay: Shakespeare's Hollywood vs. History 5 Ricardian Review 7 From the Editor 13 2014 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 14 AGM REGISTRATION FORM 15 Member Challenge: 16 Board, Staff, and Chapter Contacts 18 Membership Application/Renewal Dues 19 Thomas Stanley at Bosworth 20 v v v ©2014 Richard III Society, Inc., American Branch. No part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical, electrical or photocopying, recording or information storage retrieval—without written permission from the Society. Articles submitted by members remain the property of the author. The Ricardian Register is published four times per year. Subscriptions for the Register only are available at $25 annually. In the belief that many features of the traditional accounts of the character and career of Richard III are neither supported by sufficient evidence nor reasonably tenable, the Society aims to promote in every possible way research into the life and times of Richard III, and to secure a re-assessment of the material relating to the period, and of the role in English history of this monarch. The Richard III Society is a nonprofit, educational corporation. Dues, grants and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Dues are $60 annually for U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Legitimacy and the Economy of Honor in Shakespeare's Henriad Bandana Singh Scripps College
    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Scripps Senior Theses Scripps Student Scholarship 2018 “Your unthought of Harry”: Political Legitimacy and the Economy of Honor in Shakespeare's Henriad Bandana Singh Scripps College Recommended Citation Singh, Bandana, "“Your unthought of Harry”: Political Legitimacy and the Economy of Honor in Shakespeare's Henriad" (2018). Scripps Senior Theses. 1140. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1140 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scripps Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “YOUR UNTHOUGHT OF HARRY”: POLITICAL LEGITIMACY AND THE ECONOMY OF HONOR IN SHAKESPEARE’S HENRIAD by BANDANA SINGH SUBMITTED TO SCRIPPS COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS PROFESSOR PRAKAS PROFESSOR KOENIGS 6 DECEMBER, 2017 !1 Shakespeare’s Henriad delves into questions of divine authority, political legitimacy, and kingly identity.1 While it is unknown whether Shakespeare meant for the plays to be understood as a tetralogy, each play sets up the political climate for the subsequent one. However, the Henriad also tracks a pivotal transition in the understanding and composition of kingship. Richard II paints the portrait of a king infatuated with his own divinity. Richard’s incompetency as a ruler is highlighted by two major offenses: killing his uncle Gloucester, and disinheriting his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who eventually leads a rebellion against the corrupted king. Richard’s journey from anointed king to deposed mortal captures the dissolution of his fantasy of invincibility and highlights two conflicting viewpoints on the office of kingship in relation to political theology.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare's Henriad As Political Philosophy by Leon Harold Craig
    Digital Commons @ Assumption University Political Science Department Faculty Works Political Science Department 2017 Review of The Philosopher's English King: Shakespeare's Henriad as Political Philosophy by Leon Harold Craig Bernard J. Dobski Assumption College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.assumption.edu/political-science-faculty Part of the Philosophy Commons, and the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Dobski, Bernard J. "Rev. of The Philosopher's English King: Shakespeare's Henriad as Political Philosophy by Leon Harold Craig." Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy vol. 43 no. 2 (Winter 2017): pp. 341-345. This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Political Science Department at Digital Commons @ Assumption University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science Department Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Assumption University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Book Review: The Philosopher’s English King 341 Leon Harold Craig, The Philosopher’s English King: Shakespeare’s Henriad as Political Philosophy. Rochester: Boydell & Brewer, 2015, 296 pp., $95.00 (hardcover). Bernard J. Dobski Assumption College [email protected] Harold Bloom famously declared that Shakespeare “invented” us. Such a claim is hardly hyperbolic: Shakespeare’s plays are perennially performed in parks and theaters across the Western world, and his poetry continues to inform the television, cinema, and literature that shape our culture. It is thus no surprise that scholars and academics find in Shakespeare’s creative legacy a treasure worth plundering, publishing nearly one hundred books per year on the Bard.
    [Show full text]
  • Shakespeare and the Cultural Olympiad: Contesting Gender and the British Nation in the BBC’S Hollow Crown
    Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Faculty Publications 1-2016 Shakespeare and the Cultural Olympiad: Contesting Gender and the British Nation in the BBC’s Hollow Crown L Monique Pittman Andrews University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/pubs Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, Television Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Pittman, L Monique, "Shakespeare and the Cultural Olympiad: Contesting Gender and the British Nation in the BBC’s Hollow Crown" (2016). Faculty Publications. 265. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/pubs/265 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Shakespeare and the Cultural Olympiad: Contesting Gender and the British Nation in the BBC's The Hollow Crown L. Monique Pittman, Andrews University Abstract As part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad celebrating both the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics, the BBC launched a season of programs, entitled Shakespeare Unlocked, most notably presenting the plays of the second tetralogy in four feature-length adaptations released under the unifying title The Hollow Crown. These plays so obviously engaged with the question of English nationalism suited a year in which the United Kingdom wrestled with British identity in a post-colonial and post-Great Recession world. Through its adaptative and filmic vocabularies, however, The Hollow Crown advances a British nationalism unresponsive to the casualties — often women and ethnic minorities — incurred over the course of Britain's self-formation and acts of self-defining.
    [Show full text]
  • Between the Lines Audience Guide: Insights and Reflections on the Production the History Cycle at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company: the Story So Far
    PRESENTS: Directed by Brian Isaac Phillips Between the Lines Audience Guide: Insights and Reflections on the Production The History Cycle at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company: The Story So Far Richard II: King Richard II is a vain, aloof king, more concerned with acquiring money and power than ruling England, and so he is deposed by his younger cousin, who declares himself King Henry IV. Unrest ferments. Henry IV (adapted from Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2): Henry IV’s reign is marred by infighting and rebellion. Henry struggles to control his dilettante son and heir, Hal, until a revolt threatens the kingdom and Hal rises to the occasion. Unrest ferments. Henry V: The layabout Prince Hal has grown into the warrior- Brent Vimtrup and king Henry V, and leads a successful military campaign to Sara Clark as Richard II and Queen Isabella. capture a part of France for English rule. Henry is loved by his Photo by Rich Sofranko. people and unrest, for a moment, is quieted. Henry VI: The Wars of the Roses, Part 1 (adapted from Henry VI, Justin McCombs as Parts 1 and 2): Henry V dies young and England’s crown is left Henry V. to his infant son, Henry VI. The English court descends into infighting and chaos. English control over France is lost. Another member of the royal family, the Duke of York, challenges young Henry VI’s claim to the throne. Unrest ferments. Darnell Pierre Henry VI: The Wars of the Roses, Part 2 (adapted from Henry VI, Parts 2 and 3): Civil Benjamin as Henry VI.
    [Show full text]