The Development Of Constitutionalism In England In The Middle Ages From The Perspective Of Shakespeare's Drama Literature

Shakespeare is not only one of the most illustrious British playwrights,but also one of the great western political philosophers.Although Shakespeare did not publicly expressed his political views,but in his plays,especially on the background of historical stage drama,deep involvement medieval constitutional issues,Shakespeare is regarded as a serious political thinker doesn't end the depth and breadth of his achievement,but it does allow us to catch some of the most important problems in his work,this method means to ignore Shakespeare's other interests.In fact,one might say,Shakespeare think that only understand politics,first to understand political boundaries,and political field outside of things,have to say that argument is not without a point,as the life of the late sixteenth century England people,expressed his political thought,the concept of the monarch,is the true history is happening at the time,so we can be found in his plays,Shakespeare's spent a lot of effort to understand the late middle ages as the monarchy of the existence of a unique form of government,but also showed his age with their peers and superiors care and political thought.As we all know,since the birth of the Magna Carta,the path of Britishconstitutional government has experienced more than 800 years.Its development can be traced back to the late middle ages in Britain,where the constitutional framework was developed closely around the political forces of the king,the nobility,the church and the common people,and roughly experienced the evolution from the absolute monarchy to the co-rule of the monarchy.In this way of constitutionalism,the monarchy changed from the initial "personal monarchy" or "absolute monarchy" to "constitutional monarchy" in the process,which gradually led to the political theological problem of the king's two bodies,that is,the distinction between the natural body and the political body of the king.In Shakespeare's plays,whether it is Henry iv,Hamlet or Richard ii,we can explore the changes.Therefore,from the perspective of Shakespeare's dramatic literature,this paper attempts to explore the constitutional thoughts and the development of constitutionalism in the game between the English monarch and the aristocracy represented by parliament in the middle ages.Through the method of historical analysis,this paper analyzes the historical background of the Kings in Shakespeare's plays,and analyzes the changes of the king of England in history from the perspective of "constitutional kingship" and "two bodies of the king",so as to achieve a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the object of study.Then through the comparative analysis with the historical facts,in order to be able to describe the middle ages in England a relatively clear constitutional road.Based on this,this paper consists of five parts,including three chapters except the introduction at the beginning and the conclusion at the end.The first chapter mainly introduces the historical background of Shakespeare,Elizabethan era and James I era.The first section introduces the general situation of Shakespeare in the second chapter,this paper introduces the concept of constitutional monarchy in the second quarter,the third section introduces the concept of the king's two body,is the hope that through the fourth quarter of Shakespeare's works "the king's two bodies",express in the process of the absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy,theproduction of "constitutional monarchy",makes "the body of politics" and "body" of nature of the separation,and in this process,the monarch's political status of rheology in the "constitutional monarchy".The fourth chapter introduces the "constitutional kingship" in Shakespeare's time,namely the constitutional landscape in Elizabethan and James I times.The fifth part is the conclusion,which summarizes the content of the whole paper and draws a conclusion.