King John (Vol. 88) | Sidney C. Burgoyne (essay date fall 1977)
Sidney C. Burgoyne (essay date fall 1977)
SOURCE: Burgoyne, Sidney C. “Cardinal Pandulph and the ‘Curse of Rome.’” College Literature 4, no. 3 (fall 1977): 232-40.
[In the following essay, Burgoyne stresses Cardinal Pandulph's role as villain and “chief mischief-maker” in King John.]
Although holding a minority opinion, a surprising number of writers1 have viewed Cardinal Pandulph, the papal legate, in a kindly light, and some have maintained that in comparison with the source-play2 Shakespeare's King John shows a complete absence of anti-Catholic elements.3 A recent scholar offers a far more perceptive view of the Cardinal but then seems to miss his significance and stage value as the papal legate: “Pandulph is an evil genius—cocksure and skilled in having his own way—who happens to be a papal legate”; and concludes that he is a figure of some stature but only “for a few...
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