Climbing Steep Literary Hills, at a Slow Pace: A Normal Person’s Guide to Shakespeare

By Chris Maddix

Shakespeare. Classic literature. What image does your mind conjure up in response to those daunting words? Quaking fear? Hives? Crushing boredom? Do you harken back to musty, cobweb-adorned memories of high school AP English? Are you recalling your panic days of college, trying to find a way to finish that essential, impossible paper, thinking, “This professor really HAS TO give me an extension”? A friend recently told me that he never read classic literature, even in the times when he was required to read classic literature. The venerable William F. Buckley defined classic literature as something that everyone wished to have read, but that no one wanted to read. Oh my!
My response to classic literature is different. I find that reading classics is enjoyable, and I want folks to share my enjoyment of Shakespeare. How? The summaries and plays within this book comprise fifteen of the best works of the greatest author - Shakespeare. I have rewritten and constructed them, however, in such a way that they might be seen as understandable, not overly time-consuming, mostly contemporary, and yes, dare I say it – fun. Classic literature can be fun. Shakespeare? Fun? Contemplate THAT for a moment, will you?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728338743

Chris Maddix

Chris Maddix was born and raised in a small town in central Michigan, the second of four children in a working-class family; Dad was a policeman, among his many jobs, Mom was a nurse. A quiet, hard- working student, Chris accepted an appointment to the US Naval Academy, which led to 26 years in the Navy as a helicopter pilot, recruiter, and emergency action officer. He deployed on nearly every type of ship on the east coast of the US, from aircraft carrier to battleship, spending time in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. He also spent seven years at the Pentagon. Upon retirement, Chris immediately embraced his first love – teaching, both in a crime-ridden public high school in Baltimore and an idyllic, small private school north of the city. For 23 years, Chris taught nearly all subjects and all grades, in addition to coaching and refereeing many sports. He’s also a musician, playing multiple brass instruments and singing. He is currently home schooling two students, in addition to officiating football, basketball and baseball. This is his first book, though not his first publication, having written book reviews, magazine articles, and his own grammar book. Chris is married to the lovely Marta and has five fantastic children, ages 28 to 37.

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Description of the History Plays

All told, William Shakespeare wrote thirty-six plays. (Whether or not he was the author of a thirty-seventh play, Henry VIII, is the subject of fierce debate.) At least nine dealt directly with British history. The plays categorized as histories have a set of common characteristics:

1. All are set against medieval English history. Eight of the histories cover the period from the death of Thomas of Gloucester in the late 1390s to the death of Richard III in 1485. Shakespeare was not born until 1564.

2. The history plays might be classified as historical fiction. Though Shakespeare’s histories were based on actual events, much of the action was changed, invented, or adapted. This probably made the plays more suitable for and popular with Shakespeare’s audiences.

3. The plays provide social commentary. For example, Henry V is shown to be one of England’s greatest heroes, whereas Richard III is among Shakespeare’s arch villains. Were these portrayals historically accurate? If not, at least they met the needs of Shakespeare’s audience, who wanted those characters to act that way.

4. Much like Chaucer, Shakespeare revealed characters in all levels of society and gave them fair and impartial treatment. A royal person does not necessarily demonstrate good character, yet the lowest in social class might have loyalty, honesty, and justifiable pride. One could hardly meet a character baser than Falstaff, yet he is one of Shakespeare’s most endearing creations, whereas some of the playwright’s characters who might otherwise be noble are false, conniving, and uncaring.

Chronologically, a summary of the British history plays follows:

King John: Son of Plantagenet King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, King John ruled England from 1199 to 1216. John was the fifth of five sons and became king upon the death of his older brother King Richard I. John signed the Magna Carta in 1215.

King Richard II: Richard II was king of England from 1377 until he was deposed on September 30, 1399. Though his was a relatively long reign, he spent much of it as a child king under the tutelage of his uncles, principally the duke of Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock. Richard II was driven out of office by his cousin Henry.

King Henry IV (parts 1 and 2): Henry, often referred to as Bolingbroke, the place of his birth, was the tenth king of England, from 1399 to 1413. His father, John of Gaunt, was the third son of Edward III and enjoyed a position of considerable influence during much of the reign of Henry’s cousin Richard II, whom Henry eventually deposed.

King Henry V: Henry V was king of England from 1413 until his death at the age of thirty-five in 1422. He was the second English monarch who came from the House of Lancaster. Henry V reasserted the claim previously championed by Edward III as king of France and reignited the Hundred Years’ War, defeating the French at Harfleur and Agincourt.

King Henry VI (parts 1, 2, and 3): Henry VI was king of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and he was the disputed king of France from 1422 to 1453. From 1422 until 1437, due to Henry’s youth, regents governed his realm. Henry VI was king as the Hundred Years’ War ended.

King Richard III: Richard III was king of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. Richard’s death and the assumption of power of Henry VII ended the War of the Roses.

King Henry VIII: Henry VIII was king of England from April 21, 1509, until his death in 1547. He was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding his father, Henry VII. Henry VIII separated England from the Catholic church and formed the Anglican church. The style of writing and research behind the creation of this play have caused some scholars to question whether Shakespeare was the author. It is not included among the plays in this package.

British Monarchy

The chart of British monarchy shown below dates from the Norman conquest through Shakespeare’s history plays. Names of monarchs are in bold and followed by dates and significant battles, wars, or acts of their reigns. Anne, shown below in italics, is descended from Lionel but married Richard of York, so she is shown twice. John, son of Edward III, had two families; due to space constraints, his second family is listed below and to the left of the first.

William%20I-1.jpgWilliam%20I-1.jpgWilliam%20I-2.jpg

Historical Background and Summaries of the Plays

King John

John was king of England from AD 1199 to 1216. John had four older brothers: William, Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey. William died young, at the age of three. The others reached adulthood and had difficult times with their father. Spurred on by their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Aquitaine was a territory in France), the four rebelled against their father, King Henry II, though unsuccessfully. The three eldest were given land in settlement from the king; John was given nothing and therefore earned the nickname Lackland. Richard went on to become King Richard I, nicknamed Richard the Lionheart.

While Richard spent most of his time as king fighting abroad, most notably as a leader of the Third Crusade, he placed his younger brother John in charge at home. John became the official king upon the death of Richard. Below is a picture of the family: King Henry II, his five sons, and three grandsons. Each person whose name is followed by a Roman numeral became king:

Henry%20II.jpg

As is the case with all of Shakespeare’s history plays, the action in King John centers on succession to the crown. The play opens with a French ambassador asserting that John is the borrowed king of England. Succession to the English crown goes to the oldest surviving son of the king. If that son has died, it goes to his son (the king’s grandson). Once the oldest son’s line has come to an end, succession moves to the next oldest. Therefore, with the death of Henry II, William or Henry (see the above chart) should have assumed the crown. Unfortunately, both had already died, and neither had sons. Therefore, the crown went to Richard.

How was John next in line after Richard? John took over upon the death of Richard because all his older brothers had died. Geoffrey died before Richard; he was killed at age twenty-eight when thrown from a horse.

There was a catch to John’s succession, however. Though Geoffrey died before John assumed office, Geoffrey’s wife, Constance, was pregnant at the time of Geoffrey’s death with a son, Arthur. At the outset of the play, King Philip of France, as well as Geoffrey’s wife (Arthur’s mother), Constance, insists that Arthur should be king. Why is this any of Philip’s business? Constance has been residing in France, and King Philip has been involved in the upbringing of Arthur. As mentioned previously, according to British law, upon the death of a king, the deceased oldest son’s oldest son is in line to assume the throne. In this case, with the death of Richard, since Richard, William, Henry, and Geoffrey died (see the chart above), next in line is Arthur.

John holds the crown principally because he previously occupied the position at the request of and in the absence of his brother Richard the Lionheart, who was fighting abroad. John also holds the crown because the rules of legitimacy were not firmly entrenched. Though strict interpretation of the rules indicated Arthur should be king, this situation had not previously occurred in England, and John’s assertion of sovereignty could not be challenged with certainty.

Who is this guy Rich shown in the diagram above as son of Richard I? The play reveals that Rich is illegitimate. In the play, Richard I is confirmed to be Rich’s father; the mother is a woman named Faulconbridge, who conceived Rich with Richard I while her husband, Robert Faulconbridge, was away attending ambassador duties. Rich, however, seems to have been a figment of Shakespeare’s imagination; there is little evidence that Rich ever existed. It seems Shakespeare inserted him into this play mainly because the action needs a hero: Richard I died, John is not heroic, Arthur is a child, and of course, Shakespeare could not be expected to make heroes out of French royalty. If there is a hero in this play, it is Rich. Rich is introduced in the first act of the play as a commoner who is embroiled in a dispute about inheritance of Faulconbridge land. The dispute is resolved principally when King John’s mother, Elinor (the same Eleanor of Aquitaine mentioned above; this spelling of Elinor is Shakespeare’s choice), recognizes the resemblance between Rich and her dead son Richard. She adopts Rich as her grandson, a role he readily accepts.

It should be noted at this point that I have changed the character’s name to Rich. In Shakespeare’s original version, this character was constantly referred to as Bastard, an appellation overly offensive to my usual target audience. I chose the name Rich to assure the reader that it is clearly my choice—no genuine Shakespearean character ever had this appellation.

The play moves on to Angiers (known as Angers in present day), a city in France held by England. In the early days after the Norman conquest, much of France remained the property of England. Both King John of England and King Philip of France arrive at Angiers and demand recognition. John insists he is king of England; Philip, backed by Constance, mother of Arthur and widow to late son Geoffrey, says Arthur is rightful king. A brash citizen of Angiers announces that he won’t admit either of them—they must first decide who is king of England.

Rich, meanwhile, has another problem. Included in the French party is the duke of Austria, the same person who held Richard the Lionheart captive when King Richard (now acknowledged to be the father of Rich) was returning from the Third Crusade. (You can find out more about this in Tales of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe.) Austria has sided with France and serves as a source of irritation to Rich, who has developed firm allegiance to his newly discovered, heroic deceased father. In this stalemate outside Angiers, Rich comes up with a novel solution: Why don’t the English and French join forces and attack Angiers?

This idea makes little sense. John has no reason to join Philip in anything, nor does he have motive for attacking an English city, yet the idea is accepted. Shakespeare seems to be making abundantly clear that neither John nor Philip truly wants to fight his counterpart. Of course, Rich has an ulterior motive: he assumes he can get the king of France and the duke of Austria to take positions on opposite sides of the city and end up shooting at each other.

Next, the brash citizen of Angiers, who has overheard the conversation and has no desire for his city to be attacked, comes up with an even odder solution: get the dauphin (the prince of France) to marry Blanche, niece of John. This notion has attractions for John. As a wedding gift, John would present the dauphin with several French cities heretofore under English control. King Philip would theoretically be happy with a dowry of French cities and would relinquish his adamant support of Arthur. Thus, it is further proven that John and Philip have no desire to fight each other, because they are quick to adopt solutions that involve no fighting at all. All parties, save Constance, who still wants her son to be king of England, and Rich, who considers both kings to be cowardly, agree to this.

Enter Pandulph, a representative of the pope. Pandulph chides King John for mistreatment of the archbishop of Canterbury. The perception of the Catholic church in England as something to be tolerated or shunned is seen by historians as reaching its height of enmity under King Henry VIII, but there was plenty of impatience with the church before Henry VIII. John does not care for the pope’s appointee to the position of archbishop, and he has let the pope know it. During this visit by Pandulph, King John will have no part of the pope’s criticism; he openly defies the pope, and as a result, Pandulph excommunicates John from the church. Further, Pandulph says that if Philip will not fight against John, Philip will also be excommunicated.

Even though fighting is unattractive to Philip, he would rather fight than be evicted from the church, so the deal they arrived at—marrying the dauphin to Blanche instead of fighting—is circumvented. War commences between England and France. This scenario might seem quizzical to the modern reader: two nations that are at odds and about to fight come to an agreement to forego fighting, only to have a legate from the church step in and force the fight to happen anyway. The modern church is looked upon as peacemaker rather than war maker. In the years of the Crusades and beyond, to the contrary, the church at times promoted warfare. In this case, the best efforts of two kings to avoid fighting are thwarted by the Catholic church, which insists that a fight take place.

The war commences, and things immediately swing in John’s favor. Rich kills the duke of Austria and presents his head to John. (This act no doubt pleased Shakespeare’s English audience, who, though the Third Crusade had happened hundreds of years prior, still hated Austria for its role in holding captive Richard the Lionheart.) John then captures Arthur and sends Rich back to England to ransack the churches for more money to support the war. All seems to be going in John’s favor: he is winning the fight; he holds Arthur captive; and, excommunicated, he feels justified in plundering the churches to support his war.

Despite John’s apparent superior position, however, the English later rally against him. John is not the English hero his brother Richard was. In fact, John is in disfavor with many English because he taxed them so heavily to fund his brother Richard’s exploits. Though the taxes were not John’s idea, he is held responsible for them. Further, John is in deep trouble with the church. Most importantly, though the English do not necessarily want young Arthur to be king, they do not want him to be harmed either. John has a man named Hubert guard Arthur; John also makes an obscure reference to Arthur’s death. Arthur and Hubert have a conversation in which Hubert is persuaded not to kill Arthur or burn out his eyes.

English lords, lacking information, believe that Hubert has killed Arthur and that John has ordered the killing. In the course of the play, Arthur attempts to escape and jumps from a castle wall but does not survive the jump. These same English lords discover Arthur’s body, as do Rich and Hubert. The lords are so dismayed that they join the side of the French dauphin, who has mounted an assault on England.

Two later sequences candidly demonstrate John’s weakness as a king. First, he tries to blame Hubert for the death of Arthur. Hubert reminds John that he ordered Hubert to murder Arthur, but John will have no part of this explanation. Hubert then reveals that Arthur is not actually dead (his jump from the wall has not yet been discovered), and John, relieved, tries to make amends for his accusations.

John’s other weakness is revealed in his lack of willingness to fight the invading dauphin. To forego fighting, John contacts Pandulph and strikes a deal: he will relinquish his crown if the church will get the French to stop attacking. Of course, John’s giving up the crown is only a token gesture; the idea is to offer the crown to the church, given the understanding that Pandulph will give it back to him and then stop the war.

Rich, of course, is outraged. He can’t believe the king has bartered for his own safety while the enemy is on English soil. Rich insists on preparing to fight the French.

Shakespeare returns things to equilibrium, in the eyes of the English audience, in the end. The traitorous English lords discover that the dauphin intends to execute them after the war, so they return to the side of John. Pandulph persuades the French to give up their attack, and the French are further weakened by weather disrupting their ships. John, still at odds with the church, is poisoned by monks and dies, leaving his youthful son, Henry III, as king of England, and Rich ends the play acting as a true subject should, voicing allegiance to disputed new King Henry and giving a stirring speech about England never lying at the proud foot of a conqueror.

King Richard II

Skip ahead approximately 160 years to the reign of King Richard II. Much happened in the interim between King John and King Richard II. Henry III, son of King John, became king at the age of nine and ruled for fifty-six years. Edward, son of Henry III, succeeded him; next came Edward II and Edward III, son and grandson of Edward I. For much of this time, England was preoccupied with the British Isles. Particularly during the reign of the first King Edward, England dealt heavily with a rebellious Scotland. In 1328, however, one year into the long reign of Edward III, a significant event occurred: the king of France, Charles IV, died, leaving behind no male heirs. He didn’t even have a nephew. He did, however, have a sister: Isabella, widow of then late Edward II of England, mother to Edward III, who was current king of England.

According to English custom, Edward III of England, being the only possible heir to the French king, Charles IV, would also become king of France. The French had no interest, however, in having an English king. They employed an ancient law known as Salic law, which forbade succession through a female, to prevent that from happening. Edward III could not become king of France because he would have done so through his mother, Isabella. The French instead selected the first cousin of Charles, Philip, to become king.

Edward III put up with that idea for a while, but in 1337, he grew impatient and declared himself king of France. That was the official start of what became known as the Hundred Years’ War. Edward III’s first hostile act was to defeat the French fleet at Sluys in 1340. Forces led by Edward III and his oldest son, also named Edward (there were lots of Edwards at that time; this one was known as the Black Prince), defeated the French at Crécy in 1346 and Poitiers in 1356. By 1356, Philip was no longer king of France; the French king was King John II, who signed the Treaty of Calais in 1360, ending the first part of the Hundred Years’ War. At that point, fortunes turned. Edward III became senile, the English ran out of money, and the British Isles were further wracked by the black plague. Edward III died in 1377.

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As can be seen by the above chart, Edward III had many sons, and this chart does not encompass them all; two others, both named William, died in childhood. Edward, the Black Prince, the oldest adult, was in line for the crown. As mentioned above, the Black Prince became a hero in the Hundred Years’ War, leading the victories at Crécy and Poitiers, but he died a year before his father, in 1376. Edward’s younger brother Lionel had died earlier, in 1368. The remaining three sons were still alive, but the rules of succession dictated that Richard, son of the Black Prince, would become king. To make it official, before he died, Edward III declared Richard the prince of Wales and his successor. The problem was that Richard was ten years old. By necessity, Richard’s uncles needed to be the actual power in the kingdom.

As the play King Richard II opens, Richard has been king for approximately twenty years, though he has only functioned as actual king for a few years, having finally begun to remove himself from the yoke of his uncles’ supervision. The youngest but politically strongest of these uncles, Thomas of Woodstock, the earl of Gloucester (see the chart above), has been de facto king for some time and has actively attempted to have Richard deposed. In response, Richard has had Thomas arrested.

While being held prisoner, Thomas dies suddenly. It’s possible