Tutorial with Timo 15.05.2009

From Shakespeare at least one question, possibly two questions will come in the exam.

That is why, this tutorial is important.

Shakespeare wrote three different kind of drama:

1.Tragedies

2.Commedies

3.Histories (History Plays)

Tetralogy: It means four different books. Tetra means four.

When we say Lancaster Tetralogy, we should understand that there are four plays. These plays are:

1. Richard II

2. Henry IV Part 1

3. Henry IV Part 2

4. Henry V

These plays are neither commedy nor tragedy. These are fictionalised historical events.

In order to understand the plays, we should have a look at the Plantagenet Dynasties on online reader page 59. It is also below.

Edward III was the most powerful and the richest king of England of all the times. He owned  almost 90 % of England. He was extremely powerful. This was never the case one king or queen was same powerful. Edward III had seven sons. Among these sons, Edward was the oldest one. Now we had better talk about the low of primogeniture. It means that the eldest son always inherits the throne. When the eldest son dies, not the second son becomes the king, but the eldest son of the dead eldest son becomes the king. I explain it again. When the eldest son dies, his brother cannot have the throne, but his eldest son has the throne. This happens with Richard II. Richard II was crowned at the age of 10. His uncle, another son of Edward III who is John of Gaunt, became the Lord Protector. Formally, Richard II was the king, but in reality John of Gaunt had power until Richard II grew up.

Richard II was bad and weak. He liked parties a lot and lived a very lavish life style. He was not very popular among the people. He was deposed and killed. Such a thing had never happened before. I mean deposing the king and then killing him. After Richard II was killed, The house of Lancaster had the throne.

Anjou- Plantagenets: The House of Plantagenet was founded by Henry II of England, son of Geoffrey V of Anjou. These are the kings:

Edward III

Edward

Richard II

then House of Lancaster: It is a branch of Anjou- Plantagenet, and from 1399 until 1455 they had the throne. House of Lancaster is the Red Rose

House of York: From 1455 until 1485. Their last king Richard III was killed in 1485 on the battle field and the plantagenet dynasty ended after 15 plantagenet monarchs. House of York is the white rose. We discussed the term with the professor. As you read the definition of Anjou- Plantagents from wikipedia, you see that House of Lancaster and House of York are also included. However, Professor said that Anjou-Plantagenets ended with Richard II. He did not refuse what wikipedia writes either. He also found it logical as the House of Lancaster and House of York derive from Anjou- Plantagents. He will have a look at the term again, and will talk about the term again in one of the lectures. If he does not mention this term again, I suggest you to accept that Anjou- Plantagenets ended with Richard II, because he was deposed from the English throne and then killed. According to Mr. Mengel this ends the Anjou-Plantagenets. However, he will have a look at the term and mention it as I said above. I just wrote the definition of the wikipedia as well, because sometimes opposite explanations also help you to learn new information easily. Remeber: If he does not mention the term again, Anjou-Plantagenets ended with Richard II.

There had been civil wars between the House of Lancaster and House of York for some different reasons, and later on for the throne. The last war of ´´war of the roses ``started in the 16th century and ended in 1670s. The reason of the war of the roses was very apparent. Richard II was killed and the low of primogeniture line was disrupted. This had never happened before, in the English history, and both of the households claimed the kingship.

Shakespeare wrote 4 plays about the Lancaster kings, and 4 plays about the York kings. These plays written about the Lancaster Kings are compiled in the Lancaster Tetralogy, and the plays about the York Kings were compiled in the York Tetralogy. I want to add this piece of information as well. During the war of the roses, more than half of the aristocrats of both sides died.

As we already learnt in the history of English lecture which is 203, Norman invasion came into an existing society. We can also say that Tudors were loosely related to the house of Lancaster.

We will discuss and see this again later on.

What we can say about Richard II is that he was a homosexuel and he left no heirs.

After Richard II, Henry IV became the King.

House of Lancaster Kings:     Henry IV  (King between 1399-1413)

                                           Henry V    (1413-1422)

                                           Henry VI   (1422-1461 and  1470-1471)

House of York Kings:       To read their lives online click here

                                     Edward IV  (1461-1470  and 1471-1483)

                                     Edward V    (1483)

                                     Richard III  (1483-1485) He was killed at the Battle of Bosworth.

After House of York, Tudor Dynasty had the throne. Henry VII became the king from 1485 until 1509.

Look at page 60 of the online reader.

QU 28: It is taken from Richard II in which Richard II talks.

Richard II :
Quotation 28
KING RICHARD
Discomfortable cousin, knowest thou not
That when the searching eye of heaven is hid
Behind the globe, that lights the lower world,
Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen
In murders and in outrage boldly here;
But when from under this terrestrial ball
He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines,
And darts his light through every guilty hole,
Then murders, treasons, and detested sins –
The cloak of night being plucked from off their
backs –
Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves?
So when this thief, this traitor Bolingbroke,
Who all this while hath revelled in the night

Whilst we were wandering with the Antipodes,
Shall see us rising in our throne, the east,
His treasons will sit blushing in his face,
Not able to endure the sight of day,
But selfaffrighted,
tremble at his sin.
Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm off from an anointed king.
The breath of worldly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord,
For every man that Bolingbroke hath pressed
To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown,
God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay
A glorious angel. Then if angels fight,
Weak men must fall; for heaven still guards the
right.

Questions:

1. Idea of Kingship?

2. Images?

The king is talking to himself. The idea of kingship revealed by him is kingship by divine right. Anointed kingship.  God -----> King ------> complicated aristocratic system ------> citizens.

In general: God-------> King-------> Poeple.

He compares himself to the sun which brings light, peace and justice. The moment he is gone, darkness come.

The searching eye of the heaven = son = metaphorical symbol.

There is also a word play here. I mean pun. Searching eye of heaven is the comparison of Richard to the son. the word play between son and sun. As we mentioned before, the seraching eye of heaven is in fact the sun. However, in the line above, as you read it it gives you the meaning and emotion that it should be the son. Can you see the pun ( word play) ? I hope you can see. For more information please click here

God is a theological father figure, and the kings is the symbological father figure. King is father to his people. King is both son of the God and father to his people.  sun/son pun.

Taken from the online reader page 60

“searching eye of heaven” – medieval preference for thinking in analogies:
homophones ‘sun/son’, ‘eye/I’ point to the symbolic relationship between God and king –
medieval concept of reality: authoritycentred,
all power descending from God
-> no longer valid: Machiavellian power politician Bolingbroke seizes Richard II’s crown –
subject/symbolic son rebels against king/symbolic father and prevails
->S.’s recurring symbol of the new age: both loss of order and opportunity for change

QU29

Quotation 29
Enter Gardeners, one the master, the other two
his men
But stay, here come the gardeners.
Let's step into the shadow of these trees.
My wretchedness unto a row of pins
They will talk of state; for everyone doth so
Against a change. Woe is forerun with woe.
The Queen and her Ladies stand apart.

GARDENER (to one man)
Go, bind thou up young dangling apricocks
Which, like unruly children, make their sire
Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight.
Give some supportance to the bending twigs.
(To the other )
Go thou, and like an executioner
Cut off the heads of too fastgrowing
sprays

That look too lofty in our commonwealth.
All must be even in our government.
You thus employed, I will go root away
The noisome weeds which without profit suck
The soils fertility from wholesome flowers.
FIRST MAN
Why should we, in the compass of a pale,
Keep law and form and due proportion,
Showing as in a model our firm estate,
When our seawallèd
garden, the whole land,
Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up,
Her fruit trees all unpruned, her hedges ruined,
Her knots disordered, and her wholesome herbs
Swarming with caterpillars?
GARDENER Hold thy peace.
He that hath suffered this disordered spring
Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf.
The weeds which his broadspreading
leaves did
shelter,
That seemed in eating him to hold him up,
Are plucked up, root and all, by Bolingbroke –
I mean the Earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green.

SECOND MAN
What, are they dead?
GARDENER They are; and Bolingbroke
Hath seized the wasteful King. O, what pity is it
That he had not so trimmed and dressed his land
As we this garden! We at time of year
Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit trees,
Lest being overproud in sap and blood
With too much riches it confound itself.
Had he done so to great and growing men
They might have lived to bear, and he to taste
Their fruits of duty. Superfluous branches
We lop away that bearing boughs may live.
Had he done so, himself had borne the crown
Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down.
FIRST MAN
What, think you the King shall be deposed?
GARDENER
Depressed he is already, and deposed
'Tis doubt he will be. Letters came last night
To a dear friend of the good Duke of York's
That tell black tidings.

There is political crisis. Queen presumes that even the gardeners speak about crisis.

First man: allegory and metaphor between the garden and state.  He compares garden to England, and this is metaphor. First man says: Why should we get rid of caterpillar in the garden when there are bad people destroying England?

 

There is some kind of dissatisfaction with the political state. King and caterpillar are on one hand, and onthe other hand there is Henry Boling broke.

Gardener says that king has to look after his country like the gardener looks after his garden. The country should not serve the king, but the king should serve his country and people. Bolingbroke is better gardener. These utterances clearly and directly contradict the idea of kingship by divine right. First man starts the metaphor, he is an aristocrat gardener. First man and second men are the helping gardeners under gardener`s command.

Note:Sir John Bushy, Sir William Bagot, Sir Henry Green. They are part of Richard's court. They are metaphorically described as caterpillars in a garden - none of them is actually called caterpillar!

Old idea: God has anointed a king, and this right of kingship goes from the king to the eldest son. Suddenly gardener regards this world view as a service. He talks about the idea of office attached to Henry Bolingbroke. King should deserve the office and serve his people.

HENRY IV

From an authority related world view towards an anthropocentric humanist world image. King is in charge, in office, serving the people. From an authority related world picture towards an individual related world picture.

First, it goes from the old world image to the new one. With Henry V, it goes to the older view again. There is an implicit criticism of the English crown.

As Richard II was deposed from the English throne and killed, it caused a remarkable shock, because for teh first time king was deposed in the English history. Henry Bolingbroke kills Richard II and takes over the office. New image of kingship and this is expressed by the gardener. He convincingly speaks about kingship as an office or service for his people. However, Richard II let caterpillars swarm in the garden. Henry Bolingbroke seems the man who will keep the garden beautiful, who will take care of it and who seems to be the right man for the office.

Henry is on throne and his men come and tell him that they killed Richard II in the prison. He says:´´Ohh, I did not want that``and he banishes the killes from England. However, in the play there are some hints that Henry wanted Richard`s death.

Black tidings:Rumours of the killing of Richard II. Henry denies all knowledge of responsibility, because even deposing a king by divine right is already a great shock for the people. If he admits that he ordered his men to kill Richard II, it would not good for him for political reasons. As we know, the new world image represents machiavellist politics. According to machiavellist politics, you should always be clever, cunning, do the best for your people, etc. For that reason Henry pretends not to know anything about Richard`s death, but Shakespeare put some hints in the play that in fact Henry ordered his death. If you really believe a king who is  in some way a representative of God was deposed and then killed by a man, this causes a historical shock. Henry wanted to avoid this responsibility.

Henry Bolingbroke seems to be a better king, a positive character. On the other hand it brings  negative tone, because Richard was killed. On the one hand he is a good man, but killing of a king is unrightful, especially in such a society who believes in the old world image.

The clashes of two different images of kingship is important. Kingship by divine right and kingship as an office to serve people. Here we see the clashes of both of these images.

Richard II as a king is also the symbolical father of citizen Henry Bolingbroke. As Henry Bolingbroke is one of the citizens, according to the old world image, he is Richard`s one of sons.

From that aspect, we say that son kills the father and new image replaces the old image. This replacement is later on in the tetralogy reverse, and the old world image regains dominance.

Middle age: Kingship by divine right was the dominant view.

                 Kingship as an office /service was emergent.

Nowadays: Kingship as an office is dominant

                 Kingship by divine right is residual.

Tudor myth of history:  According to the Tudor myth of history

                                             King Arthur  and then

 

                                             Lancaster    an then there follows

                                

                                             Tudor Daynasty

Henry V is the one who revived the idea of kingship by divine right.

THE END.