Andrew Duxfield - Richard II: A Critical Reader

Richard II

Richard II

A Critical Reader

Edited by Michael Davies and Andrew Duxfield

ARDEN EARLY MODERN DRAMA GUIDES

Series Editors:

Andrew Hiscock, University of Wales, Bangor, UK and Lisa Hopkins, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Arden Early Modern Drama Guides offer practical and accessible introductions to the critical and performative contexts of key Elizabethan and Jacobean plays. Each guide introduces the texts critical and performance history, but also provides students with an invaluable insight into the landscape of current scholarly research, through a keynote essay on the state of the art and newly commissioned essays of fresh research from different critical perspectives.

A Midsummer Nights Dream, edited by Regina Buccola

Doctor Faustus, edited by Sarah Munson Deats

King Lear, edited by Andrew Hiscock and Lisa Hopkins

Henry IV, Part 1, edited by Stephen Longstaffe

Tis Pity Shes a Whore, edited by Lisa Hopkins

Women Beware Women, edited by Andrew Hiscock

Volpone, edited by Matthew Steggle

The Duchess of Malfi, edited by Christina Luckyj

The Alchemist, edited by Erin Julian and Helen Ostovich

The Jew of Malta, edited by Robert A. Logan

Macbeth, edited by John Drakakis and Dale Townshend

Richard III, edited by Annaliese Connolly

Twelfth Night, edited by Alison Findlay and Liz Oakley-Brown

The Tempest, edited by Alden T. Vaughan and Virginia Mason Vaughan

Romeo and Juliet, edited by Julia Reinhard Lupton

Julius Caesar, edited by Andrew James Hartley

The Revengers Tragedy, edited by Brian Walsh

The White Devil, edited by Paul Frazer and Adam Hansen

Edward II, edited by Kirk Melnikoff

Much Ado About Nothing, edited by Deborah Cartmell and Peter J. Smith

King Henry V, edited by Karen Britland and Line Cottegnies

Tamburlaine, edited by David McInnis

Troilus and Cressida, edited by Efterpi Mitsi

Further titles are in preparation.

THE ARDEN SHAKESPEARE

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK

1385 Broadway, New York, 10018, USA

BLOOMSBURY, THE ARDEN SHAKESPEARE and the Arden Shakespeare logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published in Great Britain 2021

Copyright Michael Davies, Andrew Duxfield and contributors, 2021

Michael Davies and Andrew Duxfield have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.

For legal purposes the constitute an extension of this copyright page.

Cover design: Charlotte Daniels

Cover image taken from the 1615 title-page of The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: HB: 978-1-3500-6455-3

ePDF: 978-1-3500-6457-7

eBook: 978-1-3500-6456-0

Series: Arden Early Modern Drama Guides

Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd.

To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters.

CONTENTS

The drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries has remained at the very heart of English curricula internationally and the pedagogic needs surrounding this body of literature have grown increasingly complex as more sophisticated resources become available to scholars, tutors and students.

This series aims to offer a clear picture of the critical and performative contexts of a range of chosen texts. In addition, each volume furnishes readers with invaluable insights into the landscape of current scholarly research as well as including new pieces of research by leading critics.

This series is designed to respond to the clearly identified needs of scholars, tutors and students for volumes which will bridge the gap between accounts of previous critical developments and performance history and an acquaintance with new research initiatives related to the chosen plays. Thus, our ambition is to offer innovative and challenging guides that will provide practical, accessible and thought-provoking analyses of early modern drama. Each volume is organized according to a progressive reading strategy involving introductory discussion, critical review and cutting-edge scholarly debate. It has been an enormous pleasure to work with so many dedicated scholars of early modern drama and we are sure that this series will encourage you to read 400-year-old play texts with fresh eyes.

Andrew Hiscock and Lisa Hopkins

This book has incurred a number of debts which we would like to acknowledge here, with sincere gratitude. We thank Andrew Hiscock and Lisa Hopkins, general editors of the Arden Early Modern Drama Guides, for inviting us to edit this Critical Reader and to contribute to such a valuable series. We also thank this volumes authors, not only for their hard work and erudition but also for sharing with us their enthusiasm for all things Ricardian, for responding generously to our suggestions and for suffering patiently our editorial meddling. Martin Jenkinss superb sessions on Richard II, arranged especially for us in October 2018, proved invaluable for the insights they gave us into the plays dynamics, both on the page and in performance. We are likewise grateful for the wise advice and good conversation of a number of friends and colleagues, including: Paul Baines, Jill Rudd, Alex Broadhead, David Salter, Graham Atkin and Simon Concannon. Lara Bateman and Deborah Maloney have provided unfailing assistance as well as patience and good cheer throughout the lengthy process of seeing this book into print, for all of which we express our deep appreciation. Finally, it should not go without saying that we owe more than our thanks to Carina Vitti and Helen Duxfield.

MD & AD

Patrick Ashby has taught extensively on Shakespeare and early modern literature at the University of Bristol, where he also supports the growth and development of postgraduate research. The primary focus of his research is upon Shakespeares engagements with history and historical thought. He is the author of The Changing Faces of Virtue: Plutarch, Machiavelli and Shakespeares Coriolanus (Early Modern Literary Studies, 2016). His most recent research investigates the handling of chronicle narrative in Shakespeares second tetralogy of history plays.

Michael Davies is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Liverpool. He has research interests in English literature of the Renaissance and Restoration periods, focusing especially on the literary and religious cultures of early modern England. He is the author of Graceful Reading: Theology and Narrative in the Works of John Bunyan (2002) and