Portrayals of Children in Shakespeare's Plays

It is not difficult to identify Shakespeare's portrayals of children as symbols of innocence and trust, as well as of truths that either cannot be or deliberately are not articulated by the adults who surround them. This does not necessarily mean that they are wiser than adults or even aware that they are agents of narrative truth. However words they say can be interpreted as central to highlighting the psychoemotional and ethical content of the plays. In Richard III and King John, action and the fate of a variety of adult characters hinge on the fate of the children, even though their own behavior may be only indirectly implicated in the shape that the unfolding action takes. In Coriolanus, where the central character can be identified as both adult and child, the action of the adult as child is decisively implicated in his own fate as well as in the fate of others.

Because the action of each of the plays under consideration was defined by a historical subject, even to Shake

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eighten emotional impact or dramatic irony while also lending moral weight to the behavior of the adults on stage. In King John, the action of the entire play decisively centers on a child character. John's nephew Arthur, duke of Brittainy, is being put forward by King Philip of France and Arthur's mother, the lady Constance, as the rightful heir of John, even though John has a son of his own. This is based on the fact that Arthur's father and John's brother Geoffrey was older than John, hence according to English custom and practice should have inherited the crown from Richard I. France threatens "proud control of fierce and bloody war, / To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld" (I.i) if John does not agree. The action of the play tracks the interpenetrating conflicts, preparations for war, and negotiations between King Philip and John on one hand and between John and a whole range of English, French, and Austrian factions on the other. But the core of action turns on the relationship between little Arthur and King John, who declares himself Arthur's protector while also plotting his death. John is characterized as Arthur's "unnatural uncle" (II.i) for stepping into the throne at the expense of Arthur's father Geoffrey; this
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 4045
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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