hello the next lecture in this mooc on the
renaissance in shakespeare we will be on the
romances written by william shakespeare in
the last decade of his life this lecture will
be delivered by professor r w desai retired
from the department of english university
of delhi in this lecture professor desai will
look at the four romances and in a very interesting
analysis draw a link between the themes and
issues in these four plays and what was happening
in the lives of shakespeares two daughters
at that time
shakespeares daughters and the romances shakespeare
died in sixteen hundred and sixteen exactly
four hundred years ago the four romances were
written during the last decade of his life
pericles in sixteen hundred and eight cymbeline
in sixteen hundred and ten and the winters
tale and the tempest in sixteen hundred and
eleven why these four plays are called romances
is a question that requires an answer because
we might well ask whether as you like it twelfth
night and much ado about nothing are not also
romances this term is derived from the language
of the roman empire which was latin from which
the romance languages french italian and spanish
are descended
since medieval literature dealt with knighthood
and chivalry the term romance was used to
refer to stories that were extravagant picturesque
and remote as of like to these four plays
by shakespeare what distinguishes them as
romances are three striking features first
a young woman is subjected to sexual cruelty
second the father daughter bonding is prominent
and third the womens support get returned
to life in mystical or religious circumstances
while some of these features may be present
in the comedies i referred to above they are
not unique as in the romances
in the closing years of his life shakespeares
daughters two daughters in fact susanna and
judiths were implicated susanna directly judith
indirectly in aspersions of a sexual nature
attempts to unravel the details of shakespeares
life are speculative but it is possible to
offer a plausible case purviewing the fragility
despite their innocence of the reputations
of these two women hermione imogen marina
and miranda including in varying degrees by
the men in these four plays as echoing in
the guise of dramatic art the anguish that
shakespeare must have felt on account of the
public shame and humiliation suffered by his
two daughters
of course he had earlier made this one of
the central issues in plays like much ado
and othello but the romances with the vindication
of the women through a mystical divine intervention
presents the subject from a radically different
perspective nearly a century ago in ulysses
the novel written by james joyce stephen the
hero of the novel had detected a link between
hamlet and the death of shakespeares eleven
year old son hamnet the twin brother of judiths
more recently the interface between the two
has been explored in greater detail by stephen
greenblatt while that between judiths and
hamnet the twins has been seen by cole and
wheeler as refracted in the twin sister brother
relationship of viola and antonio in twelfth
night that the death of his son coincided
with the writing of what are arguably is greatest
tragedy and comedy hamlet and twelfth night
respectively has thus been sensitively and
revealingly explored
showing how the life of the artist is reflected
and transformed in the plays while the plausity
of biographical detail pertaining to shakespeare
must always remain a lacuna in unraveling
the links between the life and the work it
may still nevertheless be possible to trace
filiations between the two that are suggested
during the last decade of his life from around
sixteen hundred and eight to sixteen sixteen
shakespeares family faced two serious crisis
involving the morality of his two daughters
susanna the elder one being directly charged
to adultery and judith judiths the younger
one indirectly implicated in a case against
her husband who was found guilty by the court
of sexual misdemeanor that had taken place
a considerable length of time prior to his
marriage to her though blameless both girls
and the family must have been greatly disturbed
by these scandals whose origins it is more
than likely predated or coincided with the
last phase of shakespeares life while he was
writing the four romances the details are
as follows
susanna the elder daughter was twenty four
when she married doctor john hall the successful
medical practitioner in sixteen hundred and
seven a year later in sixteen hundred and
eight their daughter elizabeths was born some
time between this year and sixteen thirteen
one john lane accused susanna of having committed
adultery with two men rafe smith and john
palmer and they suffering from venereal disease
on the fifteen july sixteen thirteen susanna
filed suit against him for defamation
the court found her innocent and exonerated
her of the charges and john lane was excommunicated
by the church for slander since susanna had
filed suit on the fifteen july sixteen thirteen
as extant court records show the assumption
that john lanes charges against her were made
sometimes before this date is of course evident
though there is nothing on record to indicate
as to how long before this date they were
made however assuming they were made considerably
prior to the date on which she files suit
against her accuser in light of what you all
remember i am sure hamlets the laws delay
in his greatest soliloquy
this period could have coincided with that
during which shakespeare was writing the romances
from sixteen hundred and eight to sixteen
eleven surely it is more than a mere coincidence
that all four plays as we have noted having
pronounced shared features were written during
these last few years of shakespeares life
when the family was passing through severe
emotional stress what likely conclusions can
we draw from these disturbing circumstances
the circumstances surrounding judiths involvement
that is the younger daughter
in a second scandal in a sexual scandal are
more complex than what the direct attack ah
would you like to do this again manjula one
slight mistake instead of second
it should have been sexual
ok
if you want to
edit wasnt sir you can read that sentence
again
again
yes that part will be edited
start the circumstances surrounding judiths
involvement in a sexual scandal are more complex
than was the direct attack on susanna by john
lane judiths was thirty one when she married
thomas queeny on the tenth february sixteen
sixteen two and half months before her fathers
deaths a month and a half after the wedding
a suit was filed against her husband charging
him with having committed adultery with one
margaret wheeler who had died eleven days
earlier in childbirths along with the baby
as with susannas case this unsavory background
has come to light through court records no
other evidence being available
accordingly unless additional evidence is
uncovered we have no way of knowing whether
judiths and her family were aware much earlier
of thomas quineys affair with margaret wheeler
an involvement which might have started at
least nine months earlier or what is more
likely long before this period certain related
circumstances would seem to indicate that
the shakespeare family was indeed aware of
this murky background admittedly the details
are not specific enough to warrant our drawing
any definite conclusions all that can be done
is to engage in fascinating speculation which
may well be true
the background was as follows thomas quineys
father adrian quiney was a close friend and
neighbor of the shakespeare family shakespeare
having even borrowed from him thirty pounds
and he had negotiated the process of land
in the outskirts of stratford through him
besides he was an important member of stratford
municipality holding positions of alderman
and town bailiff what further complicates
the situation is the friendship that existed
between margaret wheelers father john wheeler
and shakespeares father john shakespeare
what does scenario shows in that the shakespeares
family had links of friendship with both the
wheeler and the quiney family an awkward situation
for both it has been noted by shakespeares
biographers that the wedding of judiths with
thomas was done hastily through the granting
of court license within the period of length
that is the forty days between the ash wednesday
and easter when the church of banned marriage
the reason for this haste it has been suggested
was to circumvent the danger of thomas being
forced by the wheeler family to marry the
daughter margaret who he had made pregnant
the question that arises is as to whether
judiths was allowing herself to be used by
the quiney family so as to help thomas wriggle
out of being forced to marry margaret a woman
he did not love or whether judith was so much
in love with him that she was determined to
have him at all costs either way this would
have been an embarrassment for the shakespeare
family
regardless of judiths and her parents feelings
it appears that shakespeare mistrusted his
new son in law to re extent that he altered
his will shortly before his deaths so as to
ensure that thomas might never be able to
lay hands on judiths share of the inheritance
from her father it may seem likely judiths
had a genuine emotional relationship with
thomas and therefore married him despite possibly
her fathers disapproval then the likelihood
of shakespeare having been anxious for his
daughters happiness after her marrying thomas
clearly a dubious kind of character is understandable
as noted above
this was the time when he was writing the
four romances accordingly it would be fruitful
to look at these four plays in the light of
his concern for the reputation of his two
daughters writing concerning james joyce to
whom i had referred earlier richard ellmann
perceptibly notes that and i quote from ellmanns
statement the life of an artist differs from
the lives of other persons in that its events
are becoming artistic sources even as they
command his present attention instead of allowing
each day pushed back by the next to lapse
into imprecise memory the artist shapes again
be experiences which have shaped him he is
a much the captive and the liberator
in turn the process of reshaping experience
becomes the part of his life unquote do the
romances have features that suggest shakespeare
having shaped again the experiences which
shaped him each of these four plays it has
often been remarked in criticism have in their
center a young woman who faces trials of an
extreme nature yet comes through unscathed
in two of them pericles and the tempest the
fathers concern for his daughters happiness
is an important element in the winters tale
and cymbeline married women hermione and imogen
are impugned for infidelity and made to experience
ignominy
before being finally vindicated and cleared
of all charges besides the thematic parallel
between the trying circumstances to which
shakespeares family was subjected and the
painful trials have the of these plays is
the vehement and even virulent language of
sexual assault levied at them by the men in
their lives marina of pericles a captive in
the brothel yet determined to preserve her
virginity is threatened with rape by her captors
so as to break her resistance and soften her
up i quote now some lines from pericles the
bawd in the brothel house said boult take
her away use her at thy pleasure crack the
glass of her virginity and make the rest malleable
and boult replies and if she were a thornier
piece of ground then she hills she shall be
ploughed
notice the vulgar and offensive language in
cymbeline posthumus imagines a scene of intercourse
between his wife and iachimo in a production
of savage and sordid imaging i quote this
is a posthumus speaking o all the devils this
yellow iachima iachimo in an hour was it not
or less at first perchance he spoke not but
like a full acorned bear a german one cried
o and mounted found no opposition for there
is no motion that tends to vice in man but
i affirm it is the womans part be it lying
note it the womans flattering hers deceiving
hers lust and rank folks hers unquote the
sheer power and savage vividness of imagery
must give us forth does it develop its marvelous
intensity from the amalgam of shakespeare
the man suffering vicariously sir can we do
this again in the last bit after the
quotations
after the quotation ends
maybe i will do the whole quotation
ok
because there was a slight mistake
ok
so pankaj can be go back
is the speed ok
ah yes sir but where you are referring to
characters and names there may be you can
slow down
slow on
so that because these are not very familiar
names
they are not familiar
so i will give the quotation again show the
quotation yeah o all the devil this yellow
iachimo in an hour was it not or less at first
perchance is spoke not but like a fullacorned
boar a german one cried o and mounted found
no opposition for there is no motion that
tends to vice in man but i affirm it is the
womans path be it lying note it the womans
flattering hers deceiving hers lust and rank
folks hers unquote the sheer power and savage
vividness of the imagery must give us pause
does this derive with marvelous intensity
from the amalgam of shakespeare the man suffering
vicariously on his daughters account and shakespeare
the artist transforming the suffering into
dramatic speech that exhibits the fine frenzy
that theseus celebrates in his memorable description
of poetic language in a midsummer nights dream
it is perhaps in the winters tale that this
remarkable amalgam find fullest expression
while in general following his swards greenes
pandosto the deviations there from showed
that shakespeare carefully crafted the play
in terms of racial and cultural notion prevalent
in contemporary yor thus where as in the swards
that is greenes pandosto the jealous husband
is the king of bohemia in the cold northern
part of europe in the play shakespeare makes
him the king of sicily a hot southern region
whose males were traditionally known for their
irrational and intemperate behavior when gripped
by obsessive passion or jealousy
the oracle at delphos we recall categorically
brands leontes a jealous tyrant while exonerating
hermione from any sexual blench without looking
minutely at specific details our general impression
of the play is that the female suffocation
by male intransigence and frenzy leontes consumed
by jealousy banishes his wife hermione for
sixteen years on the charge of her imagined
adultery on his orders their daughter the
baby perdita is abandoned in the wilderness
by the coward antigonus who is then appropriately
pursued and devoured by a bear then polixines
justifies cross fertilization but on discovering
his son courting a supposedly rustic girl
vindictively accuses her of practicing witchcraft
and even camillo though sympathetic with the
plight of the wronged queen does not have
the kind of courage that for example kent
displays in reprimanding king lear for his
folly in casting off cordelia all the timidity
shown by the first servant in the same play
when he deals cornwall his death wound while
trying to protect gloucester from getting
blinded in contrast to the cowardly men in
the winters tale it is the women who stand
up against the tyranny of the men hermione
refuses her husband leontes accusation against
her of having committed adultery here is a
quotation from hermione speech
know by my life privy to none of this how
will this grieve you when you shall come to
clearer knowledge that you thus have publishd
me gentle my lord you scarce can right me
thoroughly then to say you did mistake and
paulina antigonuss wife denounces leontes
for his baseless suspicion she says this most
cruel usage of your queen not able to produce
more accusation than your own weak hinged
fancy something savors of tyranny sixteen
years later polixines is as started as the
leontes he threatens perdita his sons fiancée
that he will have her beauty scratched with
briers and made more homely because of her
inferior social status but she calmly tells
her fiancée florizel i just not much have
feared for once or twice i was about to speak
and tell him plainly he selfsame sun that
shines upon his court hides not his visage
from our cottage but looks on alike for wanting
to establish a one to one equivalence between
biography and drama i think it is still possible
to design what might be called an atmospheric
correspondence between susannas maligning
by john lane and the charge of adultery to
which hermione is subjected by leontes his
obsession comes to the fore when he declares
to his little son mamillius and many a man
there is even at this present now while i
speak this holds his wife by the arm that
little thinks she has been sluiced ins absence
and his pond fished by his next neighbor
the scandalous and baseless attack on susannas
reputation by john lane smudging her with
public disgrace may well be seem as having
a counterpart in leontes denunciation of his
wife in an open forum rejecting outright her
denial of the charge and sentencing the newborn
baby to deaths this brat is none of mine he
storms it is the issue of polixines hence
with it and together with the gang commit
them to the fire his psychotic dementia overflows
with the shocking rejection of the oracles
pronouncement on his folly which is followed
by the sudden deaths of his son mamillius
leontes abrupt turnaround and hermiones deaths
there is no truth at all in the oracle he
shouts the sessions shall proceed this is
mere falsehood following susannas acquittal
by the startford court john lane found himself
facing charges of rioting drunkenness and
libeling vicar he was convicted on all three
counts
however unlike the swift retribution meted
out to leontes by divine intervention the
case against john lane took its own time and
judgment was pronounced six years later in
sixteen hundred and nineteen three years after
shakespeares deaths thus denying the father
the satisfaction of seeing his daughters tormentor
punished since the plot of the tempest is
not derived from any known source but is shakespeares
invention the possibility of the play reflecting
the dramatists own experience is worth exploring
today it is considered unfashionable and even
naive to equate prospero with shakespeare
the man but there was a time in the history
of shakespearean criticism when the belief
in art a self expression was a truism and
it would be helpful if this autobiographical
angle which reexamined especially in the context
of shakespeares situation in the judiths thomas
quiney marriage as noted above shakespeare
found himself in the embarrassing position
of acquiring a son in law who had fathered
a child of a woman not his daughter a situation
somewhat comparable to that that of prospero
whose daughter has fallen in love with the
son of the king of naple who by encouraging
his brother antonio to usurp prosperos dukedom
was in prosperos words an enemy to me inveterate
hearkens my brothers suit but the correspondence
does not stop here as this fix to his character
as his would be womanizing son in law must
have been to shakespeare is ferdinand to prospero
who by his own admission has had affairs with
numerous women before falling in love with
miranda
ferdinand says full many a lady i have eyed
with best regard he confesses to her and many
a time the harmony of their tongues hath into
bondage brought my too diligent ear for several
virtues have i liked several women that some
part of prospero finds the womanizing ferdinand
as repellent as shakespeare must have found
thomas quiney is perhaps indicated in his
corrective to mirandas praise of her suitor
miranda says of her fiancée theres nothing
evil can dwell in such a temple if the ill
spirit have so fair a house good things will
strive to dwell in it prosperos done the correction
thou think as there is no more shapes as he
having seen but him and caliban foolish wench
to the most of men this is a caliban and they
to him are angels and corroboration of these
assumption it is already noted may be seen
in shakespeares alteration of his bill shortly
before his deaths adding certain clauses to
protect his daughter should thomas quiney
prove faithless to her unsure of his son in
laws reliability he made his elder daughter
susanna and her husband executors of his will
and left to her his landed property new place
the henley street and old stratford properties
in stratford and the blackfriars gatehouse
in london while judiths must to receive a
hundred pounds as her marriage portion as
well as the interest on another hundred and
fifty pounds in the tempest of course prospero
seems to be secretly promoting the match between
his daughter and ferdinand son of the king
a union that makes his daughter the potential
queen of naples at some future time if there
is a divided self within prospero likewise
there may have been such a condition in shakespeare
as well for as we recall thomas quiney was
after all the son of adrian quiney who was
shakespeares close friend to whom he had even
lent thirty pounds and through him had purchased
lands in the outskirts of stratford
the picture is a complicated one but perhaps
the play does provide suggestive clues that
point implausible directions so as to shed
flickering light on shakespeares unenviable
situation in relation to his controversial
son in law
the romances are strikingly different from
the tragedies and problem plays in many respects
the most noteworthy being the mystical intervention
that rescues the women from the tyranny of
the men a contrast of the naturalistic fate
of gertrude in hamlet ophelia in hamlet cordelia
in king lear desdemona in othello and lady
macbeth of course in macbeth were it not for
the oracle in delphi in the winters tale jupiter
in cymbeline diana in pericles and prosperos
magic in the tempest the women in these plays
who undoubtedly have met the same tragic fate
as those in the earlier group of plays equally
interesting the mystical intervention here
is not christian but (()) is shakespeare suggesting
that the absence of the divine intervention
in the new testament as seen in the martyrdom
of john the baptist stevan and the apostles
james paul and peter would not justify its
presence in the romances and so made him turn
to non christian intervention for effecting
rescue and resolution
whatever may have been his intent conscious
or unconscious the oppression of women in
these plays despite their blameless conduct
is quite unlike the women of the tragedies
which i had referred earlier all of whom are
to some degree responsible for the fate that
overtakes them ophelia we recall meekly obeys
her father polonius and returns to hamlet
the gifts he had given desdemona when asked
by othello for the handkerchief he has given
her denies that it is lost thus confirming
othellos suspicion of her being unchaste young
women of the romances are not tarnished by
any blame and like shakespeares daughters
seem to echo resonances of the unhappy experiences
at the hands of male perfidy and yet miraculously
they comes through the crucible unscathed
hermione is reunited with estranged husband
as is imogen with her gullible husband despite
the smudging of her wifely chastity by treacherous
iachimo marina escapes the ignominy of the
brothel and miranda the danger of being raped
by caliban while her own fiancée fearful
of the punishment which her father threatens
him should he break her virgin knot leaves
intact her virginity up to her wedding day
presided over by juno
caliban we all recall had threatened to rape
miranda as is revealed with his exchange with
prospero who claims to have defended him caliban
said prosperos sorry prospero said just we
will have to correct prospero says i have
used thee filth as thou art with human care
and lodged thee in mine own cell till thou
didst seek to violate the honour of my child
to which caliban retorts o ho o ho wouldnt
had been done thou didst prevent me i had
peopled else this isle with calibans but caliban
is not the only potential rapist of prosperos
daughter even ferdinand who prospero approves
of as his future son in law is a potential
rapist a threat that prospero perceives as
a possibility as is clear in his warning to
the young man take my daughter but if thou
dost break her virgin not before all sanctimonious
ceremonies may with full and holy rite be
ministerd no sweet aspersion shall the heavens
let fall to make this contract grow but barren
hate sour eyed disdain and discord shall bestrew
the union of your bed with weeds so loathly
that you shall hate it books the vulnerability
of his daughter to rape before marriage that
prospero apprehends could well have been shakespeares
own fear for his daughter judiths whose relationship
as we have seen with thomas quiney was not
without the likelihood of social stigma being
thrown at her why then accomplished dramatist
like shakespeare could view objectively the
characters he had created in the play that
he was writing he was also a human being with
human feelings that could well have colored
his art it is worth recording that in theseus
well known description of the process whereby
day to day experiences are transformed into
the crucible of the poets imagination into
a local habitation and a name the lines are
the poets eye in a fine frenzy rolling doth
glance from heaven to earths from earth to
heaven and as a imagination bodies forth the
forms of things are known the poets pen turns
them to shapes
clearly theseus sees a link between the poets
eye and the products of his pen and it is
this link that we are trying to identify in
shakespeares writing of the romances all of
these young and innocent women teether on
the brink of ruin but are then miraculously
rescued by supernatural intervention
shakespeare left behind more letters diaries
or journals unlike ben johnson he never published
his own plays a neglect lamented by the editors
of the folio who in their note to the great
variety of readers wished that the author
himself had lived to have set forth an overseeing
his own writing it is only by his extrapolation
from his plays and poems and from the scattered
memoirs of his contemporaries that something
of the man behind the work can be judged in
conclusion then it seems difficult to resist
seeing the endings of the romances as embodying
the complete and satisfied fulfillment of
a fathers wishes for a happiness of his daughters
in a world of evil and male oppression if
in the tragedies shakespeare showed us what
life is in the romances he gives us a vision
of what life ought to be
shakespeares history plays shakespeares english
history chronicle plays from richard the second
to richard the third cover a historical span
of a hundred and eight years from thirteen
seventy seven to fourteen eighty five after
which began the tudor period with henry the
seventh which includes the reign of queen
elizabeth however the writing of the henriad
plays by shakespeare did not follow their
historical sequence and this is a factor we
must take into account in our study of the
play thus though richard the second in history
died in fourteen hundred and henry the sixth
in fourteen seventy one shakespeare wrote
the henry the sixth plays in fifteen ninety
one and richard the second in fifteen ninety
four in inverse order likewise the historical
henry the fifth died in fourteen twenty two
and richard the third in fourteen eighty five
sixty years later but shakespeare wrote richard
the third in fifteen ninety two and henry
the fifth seven years later in fifteen ninety
nine again in inverse order thus giving rise
to a (()) view of events that is we see future
events first then past events the development
of shakespeares dramatic art then is at variance
with the location of the plays in history
the outcome being that the plays he wrote
later like henry the fourth parts one and
two has such unforgettable character as falstaff
hal later henry the fifth hotspur and richard
the second contrasting with the comparatively
immature style of henry the sixth parts one
two and three later in this paper we will
look more closely at this interesting anomaly
turning then to the later plays in the chronology
richard the second henry the fourth parts
one and two then henry the fifth our focus
will be on two aspects of these plays one
shakespeares view of politics in the context
of historical events and two the memorable
characters as already briefly noted and their
role in the politics of the period in passing
we should note that one of the recent critical
approaches to literature is new historicism
in which strong emphasis is laid on two factors
first that the literary text is embedded in
its own cultural and social time and place
and therefore should be studied in the light
of its historical context and second that
the writing of the literary text could well
have been influenced by conditions that might
seem too remote to have played the role in
the shaping of the text and yet if studied
carefully might uncover some remarkable traces
of influence that would well compel us to
rethink our interpretation of the text for
example in henry the fourth part one nearly
half of the play consists of the unhistorical
scenes of falstaff the fat knight and his
companions in the tavern and these scenes
if closely analyzed might well be regarded
as a ironical and witty commentary on the
serious things of grave political import with
which the high class members of the aristocracy
are occupied this lighting from the underground
so to speak is not the feature of earlier
plays like henry the sixth part one two and
three or richard the third which are fully
occupied with history having no room for low
comedy
what we may well ask was shakespeares view
of history nineteenth century criticisms answer
was that his view was based on hence if a
prince wishes to maintain himself he must
learn how to be not good and to use that ability
or not as is required shakespeare was of course
as were all english writers greatly influenced
by the italian thinkers we have only to remember
that almost all of the plots of his plays
came from italian sources and in england we
are only to turn to francis bacons metaphoric
observation that i quote all rising to great
place is by a winding stair to note its relevance
to bolingbrokes that is henry the fourth he
became henry the fourth later confession to
his son hal later henry the fifth i quote
god knows my son by what by paths and indirect
crookd ways i met this crown and i myself
know well how troublesome it sat upon my head
as some of you no doubt know it was richard
the second who banished bolingbroke for six
years when the one to one combat between bolingbroke
and mowbray was about to take place each having
accused the other of high treason against
the king the king then banished mowbray for
life and extracted from both of them a promise
to respect his sentence and never plot against
him or the throne up to this point in the
plays action richards authority is undisputed
in accordance with the doctrine of the divine
right of kings as for example stated by thomas
hooker fifteen eighty six to sixteen forty
seven ecclesiastical polity kings i am quoting
from hooker kings therefore no man can have
lawfully power and authority to judge if private
men offend there is a magistrate over them
which judgeth if magistrates offend they have
their prince if princes offend there is heaven
a tribunal before which they shall appear
on earth they are not accountable to any
this is a note ah we can relate to the great
chain of being the theory that there is a
hierarchy which is observed in all forms and
patterns of nature whether pertaining to actual
nature or the human nature in the play itself
bolingbrokes father john of gaunt endorses
this belief let heaven revenge for i may never
lift an angry arm against his minister and
later in the play richard himself invokes
heaven to defend his cause god for his richard
hath in heavenly pay a glorious angel then
if angels fight weak men must fall so heaven
still guards the right this simple straightforward
assertion of faith in the king being impregnable
against challenges to his authority is however
shown to crumble in the face of worldly might
and political strategy for at plays end richard
is forced to abdicate by bolingbroke and dies
at the hands of an assassin thus is called
in question the notion of the divine right
of kings but the further complication ensues
which shakespeare explores and develops with
fine psychological insight namely the pangs
of conscience that now haunt bolingbroke and
run like a thread through the two parts of
henry the fourth shakespeares most mature
and gripping of all his history plays
we will now consider briefly some instances
of the psychological insight of shakespeare
just mentioned which shifts the reader or
the viewers attention away from divine providence
to the human dimension in worldly affairs
thus rendering his plays timeless as doctor
johnson noted shakespeare is writers a poet
of nature the poet that holds up to his readers
a faithful mirror of manners and of life henry
the fourth part one opens with bolingbroke
now king henry longing to set out on a pilgrimage
to the holy land jerusalem in order to do
penance for having usurped the crown from
richard and thus assuage the noise of his
troubled conscience but continuously he is
sorted by various circumstances as he himself
says but this our purpose now is twelve month
old and bootless this to tell you we will
go ironically on his deathbed at the end of
henry the fourth part two he ruefully laments
never having the label to realize his dream
due to his failing healths and asks an attendant
lord to convey him to the chamber named jerusalem
where he may die in peace it has been prophesized
to be many years i should not die but in jerusalem
which mainly i suppose the holy land but bear
me to that chamber there i lie in that jerusalem
shall harry die henry is a complex character
portrayed is ambitious and unscrupulous yet
eliciting our sympathy for his sensitivity
and introspection thus anticipating in certain
ways shakespeares creation of a far more memorable
character macbeth who like henry cannot resist
succumbing to the temptation of securing the
crown yet is tormented by his restless conscience
to add to henrys predicament is the anguish
he feels over the manner in which he was forced
by political necessities to take decisions
for the public good that he personally and
privately abhorred struggling against the
trap in which he finds himself a captive he
discusses with the earl of warwick the way
in which the men are drawn into the vortex
of historical necessity not so much by choice
as because they fit in with the shape that
events take
and so are enlisted by the forces of political
compulsion to fulfill their innest capable
destiny henry by this reasoning absolves himself
for personal guilt in the deposition of richard
and blames the events that compelled him to
become a factor in the formula that history
was evolving though then god knows i had no
such intents but that necessity so bowd the
state that i and greatness like compelld to
kiss the earl of warwicks reply is strongly
reminiscent of cassius view in julius caeser
a play that i am sure many of you know very
well a freedom and determinism warring with
each other is not in agreement with henrys
self exoneration but places an equal responsibility
on the individuals freedom to make the right
choice in terms of moral and ethical principle
in other words warwick insists that each individual
is accountable for the choices he or she makes
he says there is a history in all mens lives
figuring the nature of the times deceased
is then history the biography of only certain
individuals do we agree with henry or with
warwick at this stage of his dramatic and
theatrical career shakespeare was grappling
with questions that are relevant for us today
how do we define words like nationalism patriotism
tolerance intolerance freedom of speech while
henry the fourth is addressing the problem
of freedom and determinism this does not prevent
him from being a canny politician even on
his deathbed he advises his son harry later
henry the fifth to use political acumen in
distracting the minds of the people from thinking
of these issues by the cunning strategy of
waging foreign wars therefore by having (()) to
busy giving minds with foreign quarrels that
action hence born out may waste the memory
of the former days how well harry learns this
lesson is the mainstream of henry the fifth
the play that we will now examine in some
detail having heard his fathers advice to
busy giving minds with foreign quarrels harry
did it to the letter
henry the fifth is replete with wars raged
against france but we must remember that these
wars were fought by men like the groundlings
who watching the play saw themselves as pawns
to be sacrificed on the battlefield so as
to secure the continuing authority of the
aristocrat rulers and politicians thus shakespeares
history plays were a powerful lesson exposing
the subterfuges and the exploitation of the
common people in the name of patriotism and
nationalism henry the fifth with soft support
for his kingship with restoring exhortation
we few we happy few we band of brothers for
he today that sheds his blood with me shall
be my brother for the heck of it may well
have sounded hollow to many in the audience
who saw through its ulterior motive and resisted
being dazzled by its celebration of military
valor and reckless war-mongering
by turning now to an examination of the comedy
scenes in these plays in which falstaff plays
a major role we will realize that shakespeare
included these scenes not merely to provide
entertainment but also to expose through them
the hypocrisy of the ruling class in one of
the most extraordinary scenes in henry the
fourth part two falstaff is shown recruiting
soldiers from the lower strata of society
with cynical contempt for their simplicity
and naivety falstaff and justice shallow are
in charge of the recruitments shallow said
where is the roll where is the roll where
is the roll let me see let me see let me see
so so so so so yea marry sir rafe mouldy let
them appear as i call let them do so let them
do so let me see where is mouldy mouldy here
ant please you shallow what think you sir
john a good limbd fellow young strong and
of good friends falstaff is thy man mouldy
mouldy yes ant please you falstaff tis the
more time thou wert usd shallow ha ha ha ha
ha most excellent i faith things that are
mouldy lack use very singular good in faith
well said sir john very well said falstaff
prick him mouldy i was pricked well enough
before and you could have let me alone my
old dame will be undone now for one to do
her husbandry and her drudgery you need not
to have pricked me there are other men fitter
to go out than i falstaff go to peace mouldy
you shall go mouldy it is time you were spent
mouldy spent
the scene is both hilarious and deadly serious
beneath the hilarity is corrupt practice bribes
from the more well to do recruits were taken
by falstaffs pauper so that they may escape
enlistment and when the army finally is formed
it consists of that of (()) men totally unfit
for battle on seeing the men hal remarks i
did never see such pitiful rascals to which
falstaff replied tut tut good enough to toss
food for powder food for powder they will
fill a pit as well as better tush man mortal
men mortal men hal continues to be shocked
ay but sir john methinks they are exceeding
poor and bare too beggarly is falstaff hard
hearted and callous towards the men who will
be cannon fodder or is he a hardnosed realist
who knows how in any war the worst sufferers
are the soldiers who died or are wounded on
the battlefield exposing the hollowness of
the notion of valor cultivated by the politicians
who are responsible for conflicts falstaff
soliloquy on the notion of honor has been
ranked by many readers as being on par with
hamlets famous soliloquy to be or not to be
that is the question in the first part of
henry the forth before the battle of shrewsbury
begins the prince and falstaff have a brief
exchange falstaff says hal if thou see me
down in the battle and bestride me so to the
point of friendship hal why thou owest god
a death falstaff tis not due yet i would be
loath to pay him before his day what need
i be so forward with him that calls not on
me well tis no matter honor pricks me on yea
but how if honor prick me off when i come
on how then can honor set to a leg no or an
arm no or take away the grief of a wound no
honor has no skill in surgery then no what
is honor a word what we may well ask is shakespeare
attempting in these scenes one answer is of
course that he is satirizing the corrupt state
of affairs in the english army
queen elizabeths sanction of sons for the
army was pitifully inadequate on account of
her determination to build up a strong navy
as all of you no doubt are aware in fifteen
eighty eight england had repulsed the spanish
armada and won a great victory over spain
since then the royal navy had become invincible
plundering the spanish ships that carried
bullion back to spain from south america thus
enriching the coffers of the english queen
who as a consequence neglected the army giving
rise to the kind of corruption witnessed in
the scene with falstaff and mouldy but falstaff
is not entirely a parodist of the high up
political goings on in the country in the
second part of henry the forth he captures
sir john colville of the dale a most furious
knight and valorous enemy but falstaff is
not entirely a parodist of the high up political
goings on in the country in the second part
of henry the forth he captures sir john colville
of the dale a most furious knight and valorous
enemy as falstaff describes him with his usual
dose of wit the scene is both comical and
serious a technique that shakespeare perfected
in the creation of falstaff and continued
to use with telling effect in all of his subsequent
plays for example in antony and cleopatra
the rustic who brings the asps whereby cleopatra
commit suicide thus to use big words that
being without being too sure of their meaning
when cleopatra asks him hast thou the pretty
worm of nilus there that kills and pains not
his reply is comical truly i have him but
i would not be the party that should desire
you to touch him for his biting is immortal
those that do die of it do seldom or never
recover the bribery and corruption that falstaff
and his corporal practice is a replica of
that prevailing among the upper echelons of
society but falstaffs imitable wit and perpetual
gaiety are redeeming factors recognizing the
combination of opposites in shakespeares creation
of falstaff doctor johnson addresses falstaff
as a personal friend and companion but falstaff
unimitated unimitable falstaff how shall i
describe thee thou compound of sense and vice
a sense which may be admired but not esteemed
of vice which may be despised but hardly detested
falstaff is a character loaded with faults
and with those faults which naturally produce
contempt he is a thief and a glutton a coward
and a boaster yet the man thus corrupt thus
despicable makes himself necessary to the
prince that despises him by the most pleasing
of all qualities perpetual gaiety by an unfailing
power of exciting laughter this is doctor
johnsons description of falstaff
yet despite prince hals ostensible friendship
with falstaff and i stress the word ostensible
at the end of the second part of henry the
fourth when hal becomes king on the death
of his father he rejects falstaff and banishes
him till such time as he reforms himself and
becomes a good citizen this scene has become
one of the central subjects for critical discussion
and controversy and needs to be examined more
closely at the beginning of the first part
of henry the fourth hal had declared in soliloquy
that his plan is to reject falstaff after
he becomes king so as to show his subjects
how complete his commitment to good kingship
is a speech thats a some critics is evidence
of political expediency and calculatedness
unworthy of a king but for others an indication
of his shrewd sense of the need to cultivate
a popular public image and therefore a proof
of his potential to be a good ruler in soliloquy
he addresses falstaff and his companions thus
i know you all and will awhile uphold the
unyoked humor of your idleness yet herein
will i imitate the sun who doth permit the
base contagious clouds to smother up his beauty
from the world that when he please again to
be himself being wanted he may be more wonderd
at by breaking through the foul and ugly mists
of vapours that did seem to strangle him
so when this loose behavior i throw off and
pay the debt i never promised by how much
better than my word i am by so much shall
i falsify mens hopes and like bright metal
on a sullen ground my reformation glittering
oer my fault shall show more goodly and attract
more eyes than that which hath no foil to
set it off ill so offend to make offence a
skill redeeming time when men think least
i will the rejection of falstaff by hal at
the end of the second part of henry the fourth
breaks falstaffs spirit and in henry the fifth
he dies of a broken heart for those of you
who are captivated by shakespeares creative
genius displaying itself in the person of
falstaff and who are fascinated by the abundance
of contradictory ingredients that go into
his making my advice is that you read the
deeply moving account of his death by the
hostess in henry the fifth at five scene three
and then try to examine critically your assessment
of falstaff
there is a considerable school of criticism
that sees falstaff and hamlet as shakespeares
two most remarkable characters hals speech
on his intention to reform himself and thus
impress his subjects anticipates in some ways
the soliloquy by the hunch backed richard
the third who plans to be ruthless and totally
self serving so as to attain the crown and
thus compensate himself for the physical deformity
with which nature has made him suffer some
of us may feel that hals speech is a callous
betrayal of friendship at the altered self
promotion others may feel as did doctor johnson
that the soliloquy prepares the audience for
his future reformation but the truth is that
shakespeares hands were tied by history the
early chronicles describe hals wild youths
which he renounced on becoming king so that
shakespeare had no alternative to incorporating
this into the text of his play here as we
shall see in greater detail later is a drawback
that the dramatist using history as a base
has to contend with here as we shall see in
greater detail later is a drawback that the
dramatist using history as a base has to contend
with history dictating the plot and perhaps
going against the grain of the dramatists
own creative judgment
this is an issue that each reader must come
to terms with using personal judgment as a
guide an example of the way in which literature
challenges us to react one way or another
depending upon our own critical faculties
towards the conclusion of the second part
of henry the fourth shakespeare gives us a
highly dramatic scene in which henry the fourth
on his deathbed finds his crown missing from
the pillow and is told by his attendance that
hal has taken it away king where is the crown
who took it from my pillow warwick when we
withdrew my liege we left it here king the
prince hath taken it hence go seek him out
is he so hasty that he doth suppose my sleep
my death find him my lord of warwick chide
him hither in any stage enactment of this
scene the crown becomes a powerful symbol
of the goals for which aspirants strive fight
and perish
we should note that while shakespeare gives
us a dramatic version of history he is at
the same time giving us a lesson on the futility
of the lust of power and fame a lesson that
tolstoy gives us in his short story how much
land does a man require are then the history
plays intended to undercut the glory and the
grandeur that is associated with the monarch
the martial music the trumpets soldiers marching
in perfect formation the speeches celebrating
military valor and national honor and if so
why was shakespeare not arrested by the authorities
for thus sowing the seeds of discord among
the common people the answer to this question
will be found i suggest in the willingness
of the queen to accommodate a wide range of
attitudes and views in the governance of the
country a couple of years before her death
she addressed parliament with affectionate
humility though god hath raised me high yet
this i count the glory of my crown that i
have reigned with your loves there will never
queen sit in my seat with more zeal to my
country care for my subjects and that sooner
with willingness will venture her life for
your good and safety than myself
for it is not my desire to live nor reign
longer than my life and reign shall be for
your good i unquote another possible explanation
for the censor board not taking exception
to criticism of prevailing conditions could
well be the long past historical context of
the chronicle plays shakespeare wrote going
back to the fourteenth and fifteenth century
a good hundred and fifty years prior to the
reign of queen elizabeths and therefore immune
from censure however members of shakespeares
audience who were perceptive could have seen
through the veil of history and recognized
the contemporarity of the plays and the message
they contained an interesting instance of
this was the staging of richard the second
two years before the queens death in the hope
that the depositoning of richard by bolingbroke
will alert the populous to the possibility
of james the sixth of scotland son of mary
queen of scots succeeding queen elizabeths
to the throne of england the details of this
episode are as follows
robert devereux earl of essex handsome bold
ambitious and the favorite of the queen went
to war against spain and captured the important
port city of cadiz as a result of this success
his reputation soared immensely and he next
persuaded the queen to send him to ireland
with an army of fifteen thousand men to quell
the irish rebellion of fifteen ninety nine
however the expedition proved a failure the
queen was furious and essex felt insulted
and humiliated it was at this point that essex
and his friends stormed into london and arranged
the performance of richard the second by shakespeares
acting company with the hope that the citizens
of the city would rise a rebellion and depose
the queen know in up that i am not richard
the queen said to her supporters essex was
brought to trial the chief prosecutor being
francis bacon convicted of treason and executed
essex rise and fall greatly disturbed the
nation and according to some eminent critics
like john dover wilson it may not be a simple
coincidence that in the same year hamlet was
written apart from the henriad chronicle plays
shakespeare also wrote in fifteen ninety six
the life and death of king john which features
between the early henry the sixth plays and
the later more ah sophisticated and mature
henry the fourth and henry the fifth plays
historically it goes back to the thirteenth
century to the magna carta
king john may be regarded as a transitional
play that combines the characteristics of
both periods while at the same time containing
at least three outstanding scenes one the
likelihood that constances lament over the
death of her son arthur reflects shakespeares
grief over the death of his eleven year old
son hamnet in fifteen ninety six two the pleading
of arthur with the assassin hubert to spare
his life and his subsequent death and three
the bastard who in many ways is a precursor
of falstaff and edmund in king lear here is
some lines some constances lament over the
death of arthur grief fills the room up of
my absent child lies in his bed walks up and
down with me puts on his pretty looks repeats
his words remembers me of all his gracious
parts stuffs out his vacant garments with
his form whether shakespeare wrote these lines
with the kind of artistic detachment that
james joyces stephen in portrait of the artist
as young man believes is the hallmark of great
writing or whether they reflect in some way
his own personal loss in the death of his
son is a question that each reader must answer
individually king john has noted an interlude
in the writing of henriad plays so our survey
of the henriad plays brings us back to three
parts of henry the sixth glanced at briefly
at the commencement of this paper
as noted these three parts were written much
before the later henry the fourth and henry
the fifth plays thus giving us a projectic
view of history by which is meant an inversion
of history this may seem confusing but on
closer examination may turn out to be more
enlightening than the conventional linear
view of history as cause and effect if we
reverse the sequence we first see the effect
and then the cause a bipolar view of history
in which hindsight can give us a new kind
of insight in historic change and circumstance
those of you who are interested in the subject
will want to read the three parts of henry
the sixth and will i fear initially be repelled
by the complexity and plethora of characters
that interact with one another in all three
parts there are no less than one hundred characters
as peter alexander points out the england
at medieval times was driven by civil disorder
each feudal leader duke earl or baron having
his own coterie of followers similar to the
many rajahs maharajahs and nawabs who had
their fiefdoms in india until such time as
the mughal empire in the north and shivaji
in the south united a major part of the country
followed by the british who further consolidated
it political structure
of course these are broad generalizations
hence without going into particulars it can
be said that with the battle of bosworth and
the crowning of henry the seventh under the
tudors we see the end of the feudal epoch
the rise of the middle class the political
significance and the realization of the idea
of the state this is a incisive comment by
peter alexander one of the leading shakespeares
followers particularly with reference to the
history plays in passing it is worth noting
that the chaos and endless conflict of the
wars of the roses the red and white rose that
sets in during this period of english history
as a result of hostility between two houses
of lancaster and york both being descendants
of king edward the third has a parallel in
the mahabharat with which all of you are no
doubt from india in the rivalry between the
kauravs and the pandavas both being descendants
of king shantanu and his wife queen satyavati
in both cases the rival parties are cousins
demonstrating that history often throws up
patterns that are similar human nature being
the same regardless of time and place the
turmoil that sets in the war of the roses
culminates with the rise of the hunchback
in richard the third who determines to win
the crown by hook or by crook deformed and
repulsive in looks
his bitter soliloquy is an admission of his
grudge against the world and is the first
great psychological study by shakespeare of
an embittered soul from who do recoil in horror
who yet kindles in us some feelings or sympathy
why love forswore me in my mothers womb and
for i should not deal in her soft laws she
did corrupt frail nature with some bribe to
shrink mine arm up like a witherd shrub to
make an envious mountain on my back where
sits deformity to mock my body to shape my
legs of an unequal size to disproportionate
me in every part like to a chaos and am i
then a man to be beloved o monstrous fault
to harbour such a thought then since this
earth affords no joy to me but to command
to cheque to oerbear such as are of better
person than myself ill make my heaven to dream
upon the crown and whiles i live to account
this world but hell until my misshaped trunk
that bears this head be round impaled with
a glorious crown for many lives stand between
me and home and i like one lost in a thorny
wood that rends the thorns and is rent with
the thorns seeking a way and straying from
the way not knowing how to find the open air
but toiling desperately to find it out torment
myself to catch the english crown
and from that torment i will free myself or
hew my way out with a bloody axe why i can
smile and murder whiles i smile and cry content
to that which grieves my heart and wet my
cheeks with artificial tears and frame my
face to all occasions ill drown more sailors
than the mermaid shall ill slay more gazers
than the basilisk ill play the orator as well
as nestor deceive more slily than ulysses
could and like a sinon take another troy i
can add colours to the chameleon change shapes
with proteus for advantages and set the murderous
machiavelli to school can i do this and cannot
get a crown tut were it farther off ill pluck
it down as is evident in this devastating
soliloquy shakespeare anticipates the workings
of macbeths mind of claudius schemings of
edmunds villainy while at the same time exposing
the machinations of all politicians in all
ages including our own to win votes by deception
and hypocrisy hateful as richard may seem
on one plane on another he emerges as a single
dominating and energetic figure a contrast
of the preponderance of characters in henry
the sixth plays thus giving us shakespeares
view of history as a movement towards the
unification of the country politically
richard perishes in battle with richmond henry
the seventh at the end of the play after which
henry the seventh has the last word proclaim
a pardon to the soldiers fled that in submission
will return to us and then as we have taen
the sacrament we will unite the white rose
and the red smile heaven upon this fair conjunction
that long have frownd upon their enmity what
traitor hears me and says not amen england
hath long been mad and scarrd herself now
civil wounds are stoppd peace lives again
that she may long live here god say amen in
the portrayal of richard the third we can
detect the scenes that make it germinate and
give rise to the creation of the great villains
of the later tragedies like claudius macbeths
iago and edmund in writing to english history
plays shakespeare is inevitably restricted
by historical necessity even though he did
take liberties with historical facts at times
while adhering to the broad outlines of history
the history plays then were in some sense
a training ground for shakespeare to probe
cause and effect boundless ambition followed
by disastrous consequences self aggrandizement
by using others as dispensable pawns in the
way of advancement so that by the time he
wrote hamlet in around sixteen hundred he
was able to create an amalgam of history and
insight into the intricacies of human aspiration
endeavor and the workings of conscience
with hamlet shakespeare seems to deliberately
turned away from english history which he
found too restrictive and went to danish history
dating back to the twelfth century a d in
the historia danica by saxo grammaticus this
camouflage was but a thin disguise for the
ongoing politics of england at the time the
queens death everyone knew was not far off
and the absence of an heir was a cause of
much anxiety as the historian trevelyan observes
for forty years and more the english had lived
in the black shadow of the question what will
befall us when the queen dies even though
the spanish armada had been repulsed and routed
in fifteen eighty eight as we saw earlier
it was well known throughout europe that spain
continued to have imperialistic designs against
england not only in terms of an old rivalry
but on account of the english navy as we have
noted plundering spanish ships laden with
bullion from south america from the high seas
as well as the threat of the up and coming
east india company posing stiff competition
to portugals presence in india portugal and
spain having been united under a single crown
from fifteen eighty to sixteen forty while
hamlet is not strictly speaking not an english
chronicle play it can be seen as an extension
of the same in the form a danish vania the
successor to the old king hamlet is his brother
claudius who like richard the third can smile
and smile and be a villain as hamlet notes
he marries gertrude his elder brothers widow
even as an henry the eighth as henry the eighths
first wife catherine was the widow of his
elder brother arthur and at the plays end
fortinbras of norway walks in the bout of
fight and gains possession of denmark even
as james the sixth of scotland son of mary
queen of scots elizabeths cousin steps in
the bout of fight and occupies the throne
of england like denmark and norway between
an uneasy truce existed every now and then
marred by skirmishes as in reported in act
one scene one of hamlet the relations between
england and scotland were and are similar
as is evident from the likelihood of scotland
breaking away from the union of england scotland
wales and nothern ireland should a referendum
be held today
further the role of falstaff to provide satirical
comedy directly against the high politics
intrigue and treachery prevalent in the english
history plays finds the yet more penchant
expression in the roles of the gravedigger
in hamlet the porter in macbeths edmund in
king lear and iago in othello audience describing
him as a joker in the pack all of these characters
disrupt the trajectory of the tragedies in
various ways too complex for us to analyze
in the limited time at our disposal though
it can briefly be said that each of them seems
to deflect the plays action into an unexpected
channel that both surprises and educates the
audience in hamlet the gravedigger scene as
maynard mack pointed out is responsible for
hamlets considerable change of mood as seen
in his acceptance of the boundaries in which
human actions are enclosed which bradley erroneously
called term fatalism hamlet then may be regarded
as being not only the culmination of the turmoil
of the english chronicle plays but as the
kind of resolution as well towards the plays
end hamlet realizes there is a divinity that
shapes our ends and there is special providence
in the fall of a sparrow he succeeds in revenging
his fathers murder but he accomplishes under
the aegis of providence thus introducing a
new dimension in the unraveling of history
in the earlier period
as lord reesmogg perceptively notes if one
looks at earlier in contemporary english history
when hamlet was written it is a fact that
every english monarch had been forced by political
events or he decided to execute or murder
a kingsman or kings woman in order to retain
power and thats after all is what claudius
did something is rotten in the state of denmark
marcellus observes and hamlet a few lines
later accepts the responsibility that is now
his the time is out of joint o cursed spite
that ever i was born to set it right unlike
the bloodthirsty aspirant power of the history
plays hamlet is a reluctant agent of justice
as lord richmond further observes on one level
hamlet is always a little way behind claudius
who seems to be taking the initiative at every
turn but on another level perhaps in a more
fundamental way hamlet is ahead of claudius
precisely because he is not limited by the
politicians perceptive as claudius is hamlet
the intellectual can (()) before and after
something claudius is incapable of doing with
the writing of hamlet then shakespeare concludes
the saga of the english chronicle plays and
begins a new chapter with the great tragedies
othello macbeth king lear and antony and cleopatra
queen elizabeth died in sixteen hundred and
three and these plays were written after james
the first of scotland had become the new king
of england the political climate had gone
a radical change where as under the elizabeths
the navy had prospered and england had asserted
her maritime rights
under james she lost the supremacy and england
lost out to spain france and holland in the
competitions of supremacy both in europe as
in distant lands both east and west of england
in india for example the portuguese had established
colonies in goa daman and diu while the french
presence under dupleix had gained political
commercial and military superiority over the
english presence under lord clive while reading
shakespeares history plays we must always
bear in mind that they were being written
during the reign of queen elizabeths and were
therefore viewed in retrospect from the perspective
of the queens glorious reign in other words
shakespeares view of history is colored by
the belief that history comes to with fullest
and most lofty fulfillment with the reign
of the queen i am not suggesting that this
phenomena logical view is incorrect or subjective
on the contrary history has fully vindicated
the queens rule for its many spectacular achievements
among which is the defeat of the spanish armada
and the establishment of east india company
in sixteen hundred it now only remains for
us only to look at the last of the henriad
plays henry the eighth
that was staged at the globe in sixteen hundred
and thirteen three years before shakespeares
death and ten years after the queens death
as we might expect the play is more a pageant
than a play celebratory of the queens birth
in fifteen thirty three and the prophecy at
the time of a long and glorious reign to be
followed by that of the successor james the
first of scotland the archbishop of canterbury
prophesizes this royal infant heaven still
move about her though in her cradle yet now
promises upon this land a thousand thousand
blessings which time shall bring to ripeness
and concludes with the tribute to james the
first so shall she leave her blessedness to
one when heaven shall call her from this cloud
of darkness who from the sacred ashes of her
honour shall star like rise as great in fame
as she was and so stand fixed
the play is by no means devoid of great speeches
even though for obvious reasons there is no
dramatic suspense worth mentioning one such
speech is the denunciation of cardinal wolsey
by catherine of aragon daughter of ferdinand
and isabella king and queen of spain and the
first wife of henry the eighth you are mine
enemy and make my challenge you shall not
be my judge for it is you have blown this
coal betwixt my lord and me which gods dew
quench therefore i say again i utterly abhor
yea from my soul refuse you for my judge whom
yet once more i hold my most malicious foe
and think not at all a friend to truth the
plays most remarkable scene is the fall of
cardinal wolsey from the kings favor for his
ill gotten wealth followed by wolseys moving
dialect had i but served my god with half
the zeal i served my king he would not in
mine age have left me naked to mine enemies
in conclusion it is important that we understand
how difficult it is to convert history into
drama the play enacted on the stage cannot
exceed three hours no audience can sit through
a span of time longer than this least of all
shakespeares audience it consisted of a large
percentage of groundlings who required to
stand in the open space in front of the stage
for the length of time accordingly shakespeare
had to compress historical time so as to make
it fit into the limited span of two hours
of dramatic time and this necessitated in
having to make a selection of episodes from
history and weave them into an unified and
composite whole so as to form a baton that
could be grasped and comprehended by his audience
in modern times with the marvel of cinematography
at the disposal of film directors task of
accomplishing what shakespeare had to do without
this technology is indeed a miracle it is
imperative therefore that we realize that
shakespeares history plays are not historical
documents but rather highlights an impressions
of historic moments that had been chosen highly
selectively that have a times been transposed
rearranged magnified and thus rendered dramatic
so as to make a powerful impact on the minds
of the viewers we must not read shakespeares
chronicle plays as historians would expect
but a spectacular renderings of events out
of history which because of they having been
captured in shakespeares vivid and inimitable
language give us insights into the essence
of historical truths which transcend mere
historical fact in other words shakespeares
plays are concentrated microcosms of history
similar to the way in which a diamond is composed
solely of carbon in nineteen hundred and one
w b yeats visited stratford of avon and saw
the history plays performed in their right
order he was deeply stirred by the experience
and noted i quote the theater moved me as
it has never done before that strange procession
of kings and queens of warring nobles of insurgent
crowds of courtiers and the people of the
gutter has been to me almost too visible too
audible too full of an unearthly energy we
must but gift to aristotle the last word on
the distinction between drama and history
i quote from aristotles the poetics which
all of you know hence poetry that is drama
is something more philosophic and of graver
import than history since its statements are
of the nature rather of universals whereas
those of history are singulars or particulars
