Although Shakespeare was a genius, perhaps
the greatest writer the world has ever seen,
not everything he wrote was of equal value
or quality. This is particularly true of the
history play King John, which historically
had quite a high reputation but has
subsequently become almost completely
ignored by stage producers and even
Shakespeare aficionados rarely get around
actually to reading it all the way through.
This is partly because of the language and
structure of the play and partly because of
the somewhat unfortunate reputation of King
John himself.
John has become one of the undisputed
villains of English history and is
remembered, if at all, as the bad king who
persecutes Robin Hood and his merry men and
who lost the Crown in the Wash – literally,
in fact, since the Wash is a stretch of the
North Sea off the coast of Lincolnshire in
which the ship carrying the Crown Jewels was
lost. That was reputedly the last time the
Crown of the land has ever travelled by sea.
John’s poor reputation is not entirely fair,
even if it has not been helped by the
widespread belief (among royalists, anyway)
that the name is cursed and so there has
never been and presumably never will be a
John II. In truth, he suffers in comparison
with his brother, Richard I or Richard
Lionheart, who was a great military hero and
conqueror of the Holy Land (not everybody
sees it that way, of course) and remained in
Central Europe as a hostage for a number of
years. It is certainly possible to argue
that Richard’s overseas adventures were not
helpful to his country and required his
brother John to collect unpopular taxes to
support the military effort.
The play itself seems to reflect the
situation in which the eponymous king found
himself.
The action concerns the machinations between
the ruling elites of England and France,
with other powers also represented,
including the Pope (bearing in mind that
England was a Catholic country prior to
Henry VIII’s split from the papacy). John is
challenged by the Bastard, Philip who turns
out to be a son of the Lionheart. Allies are
sought, wooed and lost and the principals
are killed in the action – Philip falls off
a castle (which has an obvious symbolism),
while John is murdered by a disgruntled monk
(likewise). The action, with its pageantry
and intrigue among the great powers of the
time, was popular in the centuries after it
was written but the taste among more modern
audiences has changed. Consequently, the
play is regarded, if at all, as a fairly
pointless exploration of the non-productive
squabbling of aristocratic elites. Of course,
this being Shakespeare, much of the language
employed nevertheless rewards consideration
but there are greater rewards to be had in
the other plays.
