In a Christian Climate: Religion and Honor in "Richard II" (original) (raw)
Related papers
" O loyal father? " : Aumerle, Treason, and Feudal Law in Shakespeare's Richard II
In this paper, I show that the current reading of act 5, scenes 2 and 3 of Shakespeare’s Richard II, which reduce the Duke and Duchess’s opposing reactions to their son’s treason to gendered stereotypes of female/family loyalty and male/political loyalty, is instead a complex response to the way the feudal issues both inherent in the play and explicitly referred to in these scenes are entangled with the competing economic, personal and legal repercussions of breaking a feudal oath. By restoring feudal law, in particular the legal response to becoming surety for another, into a play preoccupied with oaths and oath-breaking, these two scenes become a tangible illustration of the play’s anxiety around the connection between a man’s oath and his life. I believe that, after many years of reading these scenes in gendered terms, a restoration of the play’s legal focus – as well as early modern knowledge of feudal law that has not yet been acknowledged in these scenes – is long overdue. Finally, I suggest that Shakespeare dismantles the vision of a stable political structure by suggesting how the oath – the religiously imbued scaffolding of feudal power – is easily broken, condemning even the king’s most loyal subjects.
Richard III, Moralist: Shakespeare's Critique of the Politics of Christian Piety
Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, 2021
Shakespeare’s Richard III is famously villainous, and because Richard associates himself with Machiavelli, many scholars read Richard III as a comment on the perils of Machiavellianism. By tracing the development of Richard’s character through the first tetralogy, we see that Richard is not properly understood as a Machiavellian. On the contrary, he is a confused moralist whose disappointment in his brother prompts him to unleash his own ambitions before he unravels in despair. Shakespeare’s depiction of Richard’s rise in Richard III emphasizes the role that the prevalence of Christian morality plays in allowing him to seize power. Ousting Richard requires a departure from that morality, although Richmond and his allies cast that departure as necessary to defend both God and country. Richmond achieves a lasting peace by maintaining England’s Christianity while bringing it under secular control.
Honour and Feuding Ethics: Continuity and Change in Anglo-Norman Legal Environments
ISSEME Conference Manchester, 2023
Following the introduction of trial by combat, the Normans inadvertently reshaped the phenomenon of honour which was central to lay feuding ethics in medieval England. By the twelfth century, the rights of freemen could no longer be protected by oath if they were found culpable of a heinous crime. Instead, their actions were subject to the laws of their Norman counterparts. As such, trial by combat appears to have been an alternative medium to satisfy any perceived loss of honour. There is no clear indication to demonstrate whether the Normans placed a higher value on honour than their Anglo-Saxon subordinates. However, the need to satisfy honour through combative violence, rather than compensation or alternative modes of feuding violence, appears to have been a significantly important aspect for the Norman elite as exemplified in the early corpus of Anglo-Norman law. The proposed paper will examine conceptualisations of honour, and situations in which the phenomenon of honour is present in both Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman law, whilst drawing attention to aspects of continuity and change.
'Richard II and Henry IV: Courts of Chivalry in Late Medieval England?'
This dissertation seeks to compare the courts of Richard II and Henry IV in terms of chivalry with reference to the great chivalric court of Edward III. It will be divided into three chapters; the first chapter will be a literature review assessing studies on the period up until this point outlining Edward III’s court of chivalry to form the point of reference for the rest of the study. The second chapter will focus on Richard II and will argue that his court of chivalry was more about peace than war and built on pageantry but also loyalty to the king. The third chapter will cover Henry IV’s court, arguing that he presided over a court which for all its promise at the beginning of his reign became militarily introverted; however it retained many of the same qualities of Edward III’s court. The overarching argument and therefore conclusion of this study is that in their own way, Richard II and Henry IV held courts of chivalry on terms with that of the court of Edward III, that great chivalric monarch whose legacy began with his coronation.
'Forgiveness Horse': The Barbaric World of Richard II
Raber and Dugan ed., Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Animal Studies, 2020
This chapter offers a brief critical history of Shakespeare’s Richard II moving from mid-twentieth-century new critical analyses to contemporary ecocritical and animal sensitive ones. It traces differences, but also links, between presentist ecocritical and historicist animal studies readings, and offers a new interpretation of the play through a focus on its horses. This interpretation, informed by the emergence of skeptical ideas in the late sixteenth century, suggests an alternative possibility at the end of the play to that offered by recent critical analyses that figure this moment in Shakespeare’s second tetralogy as marking a shift in conceptions of subjectivity and of the natural world.
Satisfying Masculine Honour: Compensation and Feuding Ethics in Anglo-Norman Law
Masculinities and Law in Premodern Europe Conference, 2022
The phenomenon of honour was central to lay masculine feuding ethics in Anglo-Norman England. By the twelfth century, new legal approaches to disruptive masculinities, such as violence, were reshaped by the Norman elite in Anglo-Saxon England. Trial by combat had become the new medium to satisfy the loss of honour if affronted. As such, vengeance was often a potent emotion necessary to satisfy the loss of honour. The Normans characterised dispute settlements either through monetary compensation or through violent feuding practices. This was authorised in early Anglo-Norman law codes such as the Willelmes cyninges asetnysse and the Leges Henrici Primi. Is there a possibility then, that Norman feuding ethics were drawn from a distinctly more vengeful desire to restore honour than their Anglo-Saxon subordinates? Or rather, was this the beginning of the development of a chivalric honour code in England? The proposed paper will examine conceptualisations and contexts that are indicative of lay masculine honour in early Anglo-Norman legal documents. Moreover, it contextualises settlement disputes in gendered spaces of law.
The politics of ambiguity: The case of Richard III Zohreh Ramin
2010
Critics have long been obsessed with the ambiguous nature of Shakespeare's Richard III. Richard, the protagonist whose name bears the very title of the play, is portrayed as ostensibly an evil figure, and weather his actions are the result of the incarnation of the devil in human form or the result of a mind disturbed as result of physical deformity has long been observed and discussed. However, the present reading, relying on new historicist notions of power and subversion, aims to look at the play from a significantly different perspective. Richard usurps the throne by killing his brother, King Edward IV, and to maintain his authority and sovereignty is compelled to commit more crimes. At the same time, his eloquence and power to control the course of events as well as other characters, specifically in the first part of the play, has long appealed to audiences and critics, attributing a somewhat productive and dynamic quality to his character. The present paper attempts to unc...