The View Of Richard II As An Effeminate King - 1673 Words

The view of Richard II as an effeminate king is one that to the present day has remained intact. Continuously placed alongside Edward II, particularly in the study of William Shakespeare’s history plays, the feminized portrait of this king is one of staunch endurance, despite the challenges of academics such as Fletcher, who states that the descriptions of Richard in contemporary texts were, â€Å"consistently misunderstood.† For Nigel Saul, a recent biographer of Richard II, this treatment of the tragic King by his contemporaries was owing to the fact that â€Å"the chroniclers were measuring him against the manliness of his father, who, in his prime, had been an exceptionally vigorous man†. This hypothesis of Saul, is one perspective from which we might begin to comprehend Shakespeare’s treatment of masculinity in Richard II. The idea that Richard’s manliness or lack there of was possibly ‘measured’ against his father, at least s uggests that the culturally valued form of masculine norms was linked to a mans ability to act. Of-course in Shakespeare’s Richard II, the king is not measured against his father, but is placed in opposition to another man, that being his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke. In fact, it is the competing forms of masculinity, as depicted through these two men that sparks the dramatic conflict of the play. In what follows, this short study will argue that while Shakespeare sets up opposing forms of masculinity in the play, with the overtly masculine overpoweringShow MoreRelated The Complex Character of King Richard II Essays3454 Words   |  14 PagesComplex Character of King Richard II A general conclusion of most critics is that Richard II is a play about the deposition of a weak and effeminate king. That he was a weak king, will be conceded. That he was an inferior person, will not. The insight to Richards character and motivation is to view him as a person consistently acting his way through life. Richard was a man who held great love for show and ceremony. This idiosyncrasy certainly led him to make decisions as king that were poor,Read MoreThe Influence of Music on Self and Society - Values in Music in Eastern and Western Cultures8787 Words   |  36 Pagescharacter. Consider Confucius remarks about the music of certain composers of his time: The music of Cheng is lewd and corrupting, the music of Sung is soft and makes one effeminate, the music of Wei is repetitious and annoying, the music of Chi is harsh and haughty. It is intriguing to note Confucius highly subjective views viz.-a-viz. the moral and possibly corrupting aspects of the music of his countrymen. He was equally concerned with the effects of good (moral) music on a persons character:Read MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesseries: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian and Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David M. Scobey, Empire City: The Making and Meaning