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Mendacity and Kingship in Shakespeare's Henry V and Richard III

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Author

Summary, in English

Shakespeare’s Henry V and Richard III both practise mendacity, but while Henry V celebrates Henry’s capacity for deceit, the king’s lies are condemned in Richard III. The plays show how similar patterns of behaviour in early modern England could be represented as either virtuous or evil by means of rhetoric, while the similar behaviour of the two kings suggests a broad awareness of the necessity of deceit as a political skill. These two plays also draw attention to their own rhetorical distortions in ways which have appeared troubling to many modern critics, but which exemplify humanist ideas about education through rhetorical ‘lies’.

Department/s

Publishing year

2015

Language

English

Pages

163-175

Publication/Series

European Journal of English Studies

Volume

19

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Swets & Zeitlinger

Topic

  • Specific Literatures

Keywords

  • Shakespeare
  • mendacity
  • kingship
  • humanist writers
  • Richard III
  • Henry V
  • early modern political theory
  • history plays

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1382-5577