POLITICAL COMMENT IN RICHARD III

Abstract

In examining much of the literature of sixteenth century England, it is important to acknowledge the dynamism and fluidity of political and historical discussion in the period. To attempt a partition between political comment and literature is to insert a division which would not necessarily have been recognized in the period. Shakespeare’s most famous play ‘Richard III’, for example, should not simply be seen as a portrait of evil. Rather, it is a complex discussion of the nature and importance of authority, presented using