“What watch the king keeps”: negotiating violence in kingship in Shakespeare's Henry VI, part two and Henry V

• Main Author: Ow, Luke Zhi Heng
• Other Authors: Wong Yeang Chui
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Humanities::Literature
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/170376
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In his book Shakespeare and Violence, R. A. Foakes presents violence as a perennial part of the human story. Foakes writes “that while particular forms of violence may be socially produced at different times in relation to structures within society and changes in technology, the urge to violence is deeply embedded in the human psyche, and creates recurring problems whatever political formations are dominant” (16). Foakes articulates that, while conditions of time and space may determine the types of violence which are permitted expression in a given place, the drive to harm another circumscribes how human beings operate in the world around them. Consequently, regardless of ideology, all political systems have to grapple with this human reality. Instead of reducing violence to a trait located only in particular individuals, Foakes’ argument broadens the view on violence. He establishes violence as the environment in which all human beings find themselves. With Foakes’ insight in view, the first part of this essay – “Violence and the Instability of Authority” – will respond to the interpretation of violence as a symptom of individuals trying to satisfy their ambitions. By reading scenes from Henry VI, Part Two and Henry V alongside critical sources from the recent past and other texts from the sixteenth century, this section will recontextualise violence as the environment in which Shakespeare’s characters are located. Therefore, responding to violence becomes key to surviving in Shakespeare’s plays.