Richard II (Vol. 81) | Henry E. Jacobs (essay date January 1986)

Henry E. Jacobs (essay date January 1986)

SOURCE: Jacobs, Henry E. “Prophecy and Ideology in Shakespeare's Richard II.” South Atlantic Review 51, no. 1 (January 1986): 3-17.

[In the following essay, Jacobs traces Shakespeare's shift from medieval to Renaissance political ideologies in Richard II.]

Though Justice against Fate complain,
And plead the antient Rights in vain:
          But those do hold or break
          As Men are strong or weak.
Nature that hateth emptiness,
Allows of penetration less:
          And therefore must make room
          Where greater Spirits come.

(Marvell, “An Horatian Ode,” 37-44)

It is a commonplace to observe that Shakespeare's Richard II traces out a fundamental shift in the nature of kingship and the justification of rule.1 This movement, which reflects both Tudor perspectives on history and Elizabethan political...

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