Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Bente A. Videbaek – Thesis Advisor, Lecturer, Department of English | Clifford C. Huffman – Second Reader, Professor, Department of English
Date
2008-05-01
Keywords
Shakespeare | Richard II | Machiavelli
Department
Department of English
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/71493
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
Research for this thesis was conducted by reading Richard II by William Shakespeare and The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. Other texts by these authors were also consulted, and critical texts relating to these works were researched and read. The reign of King Richard II signaled a beginning of a move out of the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. The play tells the story of King Richard II, an inept ruler who lost the crown to Henry Bolingbroke, who then became King Henry IV. The failures of Richard and the success of Bolingbroke can be closely linked to instruction put forth by Machiavelli in The Prince. Bolingbroke is a Machiavellian, and so with Richard II, Shakespeare acknowledges that Machiavellianism can be the basis for good rule as England grew out of its medieval roots and into a Renaissance power.
Recommended Citation
Franco, Thomas Michael, "Shakespeare's Richard II: Machiavelli for the Good of England" (2008). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 699.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/699