Rebellion in Two Plays of Shakespeare

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of rebellion in Shakespeare's 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, Henry V, and The Tempest. The plan of the research will be to discuss forces behind coups and attempted coups in the plays and the level of sympathetic and unsympathetic portrayals of rebels in each of them, with a view toward determining Shakespeare's view of the status of authority, its power, and its vulnerability.

1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, and Henry V can be considered as pieces of a unitary presentation of the self-conscious assertion of monarchical attitude and dignity in England by one of its founding royal families. But this assertion is made in the context of multiple rebellions. To begin with, Henry IV's reign was established by rebellion, Bolingbroke having become the Lancastrian/Plantagenet Henry IV when the vain and foolish Richard II abdicated (in Richard II). But in 1HIV, the new king is also a target of rebellion, both political and personal.

Political rebellion against Henry IV arises because of the complex interaction of three distinct areas: Scotland, Wales, and (later) Northumberland, in the house of Percy. At the opening of the play, it appears that two areas are being disposed of effectively. Northumberland (which, with Bolingbroke, had supported replacement of Richard II by Henry) has secured Henry's position once for all against Scotland via young Harry Percy's (Hotspur) military victory. But Hotspur refuses to hand over the Scots leaders to the k

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he vulnerability of Henry IV's crown. He may be pitied at the moment of Hal's rejection, but its hardness is really no worse than Falstaff--the lowest kind of subject, having only personal and no national priorities--either deserves or is entitled to expect: "I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers; / How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!" (2HIV V.v). Public rejection, "but a colour" of Hal's, as he thinks, does not worry him in 2HIV. But his squalid death in Henry V confirms that the break was complete and its manner deliberate. That is the content of Hal's change and growth. The tennis ball scene in Henry V shows that Hal has indeed made use of the "wilder days" of private rebellion, which can be interpreted as bordering on treason, and on that very account is well positioned to "keep my state, / Be like a king and show my sail of greatness / When I do rouse me in my throne of France" (I.II). Henry V's self-conscious royal stature vis-a-vis France is matched by consciousness of connection between royal welfare and that of "his princes and his peers . . . his subjects . . . his whole kingdom" (II.ii). This consciousness and responsibility proceed from Hal's confident understanding of what it cost Henry IV to beque

Category: Literature - R