A Study Of Kingship In Richard ?

The ten history plays in total might serve as a best reminder of William Shakespeare's fascination with the English history.The Bard's writing career,as a matter of fact,starts from the composition of the three episodes on the weak monarch,Henry VI.When presenting the English kings upon the London stage,Shakespeare not only tries to remain loyal to the historical facts,but also adds to them his own idea of history thus elevating the English theatres to a political and philosophical level that is seldom surpassed ever since.Richard ?,The Life and Death of King Richard the Second,written in 1595,was the fourth history play that William Shakespeare created.The play is based on the life of King Richard ? who ruled the England from 1377 to 1399.Its primary source is on account of the last two years of Richard ?'s reign in Raphaei Holinshed's Chronicles.Richard ? is the first part of a Shakespeare's second tetralogy,referred to by some scholars as the Henriad,followed by three plays concerning Richard's successors: Henry IV,Part 1,Henry IV,Part 2 and Henry V.Richard ? can be divided into two parts: the fall of Richard ? and the rise of Henry IV.This play can also be regarded as the battle between the two kings and the center of the battle is on the legitimacy of kingship.The present thesis tries to analyze the idea of kingship in Richard ? and the Shakespeare's reflection on kingship in this play.This thesis consists of five parts: an introduction,three main chapters and a conclusion.The introduction gives a brief description of Shakespeare and Richard ?,then reviews the researches on this play at abroad and at home and puts forward the argument,research methods and significance of the study.Chapter one explores Richard ?'s kingship from the perspective of political theology of Middle Ages: Richard ? as the anointed king of England,Richard ? as a “gardener” and dilemma in Richard ?'s kingship.Chapter two discusses the rise of Henry IV by analyzing characterization of Bolingbroke,Bolingbroke as a Machiavelli monarch and legitimacy of Kingship of Henry IV.Chapter three analyzes the subversion and consolidation of kingship in Richard ?.The author discusses the dethronement of Richard ? and reflection of British kingship and political legacy of Richard ?.In the conclusion,the author summarizes the thesis and restates the significance of the idea of kingship when we approach the play of Richard ? in a contemporary cultural context.