The Life and Death of King John
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About this ebook
The Life and Death of King John, one of William Shakespeare's historical plays, delves into the tumultuous reign of one of England's most controversial monarchs.
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William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright the world has seen. He produced an astonishing amount of work; 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. He died on 23rd April 1616, aged 52, and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.
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The Life and Death of King John - William Shakespeare
The Life and Death of King John By
William Shakespeare
First published in 1598
Image 1Published by Left of Brain Books
Copyright © 2023 Left of Brain Books ISBN 978-1-396-32503-8
eBook Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations permitted by copyright law. Left of Brain Books is a division of Left Of Brain Onboarding Pty Ltd.
PUBLISHER’S PREFACE
About the Book
The Life and Death of King John is one of the Shakespearean histories, plays written by William Shakespeare and based on the history of England. The play dramatizes the reign of King John of England (reigned 1199-1216), son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and father of Henry III of England.
(Quote from wikipedia.org)
About the Author
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 - 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the
Bard of Avon (or simply
The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585
and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears
to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590
and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language.
In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.
Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called
bardolatry
. In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.
Around 150 years after Shakespeare's death, doubts began to emerge about the authorship of Shakespeare's works. Alternative candidates proposed include Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford. Although all alternative candidates are almost universally rejected in
academic circles, popular interest in the subject, particularly the Oxfordian theory, has continued into the 21st century."
(Quote from wikipedia.org)
CONTENTS
PUBLISHER’S PREFACE
LIST OF CHARACTERS .................................................................... 1
ACT 1, SCENE 1 ............................................................................. 3
ACT 2, SCENE 1 ........................................................................... 14
ACT 3, SCENE 1 ........................................................................... 37
ACT 3, SCENE 2 ........................................................................... 51
ACT 3, SCENE 3 ........................................................................... 52
ACT 3, SCENE 4 ........................................................................... 56
ACT 4, SCENE 1 ........................................................................... 63
ACT 4, SCENE 2 ........................................................................... 70
ACT 4, SCENE 3 ........................................................................... 81
ACT 5, SCENE 1 ........................................................................... 89
ACT 5, SCENE 2 ........................................................................... 93
ACT 5, SCENE 3 ......................................................................... 101
ACT 5, SCENE 4 ......................................................................... 103
ACT 5, SCENE 5 ......................................................................... 106
ACT 5, SCENE 6 ......................................................................... 108
ACT 5, SCENE 7 ......................................................................... 111
LIST OF CHARACTERS
CHARACTER
DESCRIPTION
KING JOHN
PRINCE HENRY
Son to the king
ARTHUR
Duke of Bretagne, nephew to
the king
PEMBROKE
The Earl of PEMBROKE
ESSEX
The Earl of ESSEX
SALISBURY
The Earl of SALISBURY
BIGOT
The Lord BIGOT
HUBERT
HUBERT DE BURGH
ROBERT
Son to Sir Robert Faulconbridge
BASTARD
His
half-brother
GURNEY
Servant to Lady Faulconbridge
PETER
A prophet
KING PHILIP
King of France
LEWIS
The Dauphin
AUSTRIA
Duke of AUSTRIA
CARDINAL PANDULPH
The Pope's legate
MELUN
A
French Lord
CHATILLON
Ambassador from France to
King John
QUEEN ELINOR
Mother to King John
CONSTANCE
Mother to Arthur
BLANCH
Niece to King John
LADY FAULCONBRIDGE
First Citizen
French Herald
English Herald
First Executioner
Messenger
ACT 1, SCENE 1
SCENE I. KING JOHN'S palace
Enter KING JOHN, QUEEN ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBURY, and others, with CHATILLON
KING JOHN
Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us?
CHATILLON
Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of France In my behavior to the majesty,
The borrow'd majesty, of England here.
QUEEN ELINOR
A strange beginning: 'borrow'd majesty!'
KING JOHN
Silence, good mother; hear the embassy.
CHATILLON
Philip of France, in right and true behalf Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim To this fair island and the territories, To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, Desiring thee to lay aside the sword Which sways usurpingly these several titles, And put these same into young Arthur's hand, Thy nephew and right royal sovereign.
KING JOHN
What follows if we disallow of this?
CHATILLON
The proud control of fierce and bloody war,
To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.
KING JOHN
Here have we war for war and blood for blood, Controlment for controlment: so answer France.
CHATILLON
Then take my king's defiance from my mouth, The farthest limit of my embassy.
KING JOHN
Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace: Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France; For ere thou canst report I will be there, The thunder of my cannon shall be heard: So hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath And sullen presage of your own decay.
An honourable conduct let him have: Pembroke, look to 't. Farewell, Chatillon.
Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE
QUEEN ELINOR
What now, my son! have I not ever