The Life and Death of King John

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Oxford University Press, 1998 - 303 strán (strany)
One of Shakespeare's most unpopular history plays, King John deals with the life and death of King John, who reigned from 1199 to 1216. This is as early as Shakespeare goes in his treatment of English history, concentrating more successfully on the later 14th and 15th centuries in the plays which stretch from Richard II to Henry VI. As a result King John suffers from being so historically distant in time, as well as offering a rather weak and vacillating king, who lacks the charisma and authority of Richard III or Henry V. The play begins with King John struggling to retain his throne, under attack from rebellious courtiers and Philip, the king of France. As the quarrel escalates into war with France, the play begins to take on a contemporary Elizabethan flavour--the feared invasion from a foreign (Catholic) nation, and the extent to which such an invasion is based on the questionable paternity of King John (like Queen Elizabeth, John is accused of being a bastard and is excommunicated). The play is saved from its rather colourless political machinations by Philip the Bastard, John's favourite, a dramatic forerunner of dubious but charismatic malcontents like Edmund in King Lear. It is also Philip who is given the most powerful and patriotic lines, when he claims that "This England never did, nor never shall, /Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror". King John's mysterious and anticlimactic death through illness at the end of the play deflates expectations - something that could be said of the play as a whole.

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INTRODUCTION
1
Date and Sources
2
Early Records On 8 November 1623 Edward Blount and Isaac Jaggard leading members of the syndicate that would soon publish the Folio paid to e...
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Copy for King John in the Folio A manuscript play might take several formsfoul papers fair copy promptbook private transcript and so on in theory ...
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Act and Scene Division It is generally agreed that act or in many cases act and scenei divisions were retrospectively imposed upon many plays printe...
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Revision A hypothetical revision or interpolation might have caused the confusion we have just examined stonger evidence of revision or interpolati...
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A Critical Introduction
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Now say Chatillon what would France with us ?2 This directness continues through the next twentynine lines of question iWhat
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against approximately 2570 lines in the Folio Garricks version has 1905 Kembles 1690 Macreadys 183O2
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Theatrical Reputation and Stage History2 Popular even controversial from the early eighteenth century to the early twentieth King John has since bee...
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EDITORIAL PROCEDURES
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Abbreviations and References
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The Life and Death of King John
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SPEECHPREFIXES IN ACT 2
271
CARE 42II71
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AN ANGEL SPAKE 52641
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primogeniture the eldest sons right to inherit his fathers real property makes Philip the heir Robert the younger son adopts the legal formula son and ...
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the second tetralogy is as plainly organized in terms of fathers and sons as it is in terms of usurpation rebellion and legitimate succession2 King John ...
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like Richard King John declines like Bolingbroke the Bastard rises4 John loses political sensitivity and his earlier decisiveness and he decays first into ...
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Early Stage History Besides Francis Meress mention in 1598 allusions to King John some more some less convincing appear to confirm that it was pe...
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LINEATION AND SPEECH ASSIGNMENTS AT 56I6
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APPENDIX E 571I7I8
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INDEX
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William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616 Although there are many myths and mysteries surrounding William Shakespeare, a great deal is actually known about his life. He was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, son of John Shakespeare, a prosperous merchant and local politician and Mary Arden, who had the wealth to send their oldest son to Stratford Grammar School. At 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, the 27-year-old daughter of a local farmer, and they had their first daughter six months later. He probably developed an interest in theatre by watching plays performed by traveling players in Stratford while still in his youth. Some time before 1592, he left his family to take up residence in London, where he began acting and writing plays and poetry. By 1594 Shakespeare had become a member and part owner of an acting company called The Lord Chamberlain's Men, where he soon became the company's principal playwright. His plays enjoyed great popularity and high critical acclaim in the newly built Globe Theatre. It was through his popularity that the troupe gained the attention of the new king, James I, who appointed them the King's Players in 1603. Before retiring to Stratford in 1613, after the Globe burned down, he wrote more than three dozen plays (that we are sure of) and more than 150 sonnets. He was celebrated by Ben Jonson, one of the leading playwrights of the day, as a writer who would be "not for an age, but for all time," a prediction that has proved to be true. Today, Shakespeare towers over all other English writers and has few rivals in any language. His genius and creativity continue to astound scholars, and his plays continue to delight audiences. Many have served as the basis for operas, ballets, musical compositions, and films. While Jonson and other writers labored over their plays, Shakespeare seems to have had the ability to turn out work of exceptionally high caliber at an amazing speed. At the height of his career, he wrote an average of two plays a year as well as dozens of poems, songs, and possibly even verses for tombstones and heraldic shields, all while he continued to act in the plays performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. This staggering output is even more impressive when one considers its variety. Except for the English history plays, he never wrote the same kind of play twice. He seems to have had a good deal of fun in trying his hand at every kind of play. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, all published on 1609, most of which were dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothsley, The Earl of Southhampton. He also wrote 13 comedies, 13 histories, 6 tragedies, and 4 tragecomedies. He died at Stratford-upon-Avon April 23, 1616, and was buried two days later on the grounds of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. His cause of death was unknown, but it is surmised that he knew he was dying.

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