A New-Historicist Reading Of King John

Shakespeare's King John tells the struggle for the crown of England between King John and Prince Arthur in the Plantagenet Dynasty.With the application of Stephen Greenblatt's theory of negotiation of social energy,the present thesis purports to make a tentative study of King John by focusing upon the national awareness negotiated among religion,sovereignty and class in and out of the text of King John.In so doing,it intends to argue that in addressing the issue of energy negotiation in King John,Shakespeare's writing of this play partakes in the political polemic of a sovereign nation-state in Elizabethan era.This thesis includes the introduction,the body and the conclusion.The first part introduces King John,literature review,and theoretical basis.The body part consists three chapters.Chapter one analyzes the negotiation of religious energies in King John.Shakespeare's revision remains King John's image as a “Protestant hero,”but he also presents John's submission to the Roman Pope.The playwright's ostensibly ambiguous attitude toward religion was affected by his own national awareness which probably prompted him to uphold the Anglicanism.Chapter two analyzes the negotiation of sovereign energies.John exchanges his niece and some lands across the channel for the crown of England.In this way,the loss of the French lands accomplishes a truly “English” territorial integrity and intensifies the national differences between England and France.In the controversy over the throne,John and Arthur stand for different national identities.Shakespeare also weakens Arthur's power to prevent the intervention from outside force.In terms of the inside sovereignty,Shakespeare transfers the symbolic acquisition of Elizabethan body politic into his play,separating king's body with king's right,to serve his construction.Chapter three analyzes the negotiation of political participation from different classes.Both King John and King Philip ask for the support from lower-class people who directly participate in the political discussion.Acounterexample that nobles betray John and surrender to France is provided by Shakespeare as aristocrats' initiative in politics and to illustrate that only England deserves English people's loyalty.In the play,Shakespeare gives his answer that no matter who ascends to the throne,as long as people are loyal to this country,then England is invincible.In Shakespeare's opinion,this solution likewise applied to the succession issue at that time.In addition,the Bastard Faulconbridge renounces the claim to his inheritance but chooses to become a knight.His politically-engaged ambition eventually makes him the spokesman for England.He is a typical character of the lower class and the middle class who improve their social status through their connections between individual pursuits and national destiny.Hence,these hugely catalyzed the audience's national sentiment.The third part reaches the conclusion that through presenting negotiations of different energies,Shakespeare's writing of King John participates in the political polemic of how to shape England into a sovereign nation-state in the Elizabethan era,and provides the literary imagination for the formation of England's national awareness.