In the complex texture of Richard II, the role played by Queen Isabel is only apparently marginal. The play offers a wide-ranging reflection on sovereignty, the ethics of power, and on the State and its government. Queen Isabel’s words and actions institute a bridge between past and future, announcing a new beginning for English history. In this paper, I intend to analyze the relationship between the tragic (and lyrical) narrative of a fragmented kingship − with the initial apparent opposition between Richard and Bolingbroke gradually resolving into a specular symmetry − and the prophetic vision of a second coming, the rise of a new genealogy of monarchs capable of giving England unity and identity, i.e., the Tudor dynasty, under Queen Elizabeth in particular.

Authors:
Paolo Pepe, eCampus University of Novedrate, Italy

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Paolo Pepe is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at eCampus University of Novedrate in Italy

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