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Time, place, and agency in "Richard II"

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Date Issued:
2004
Summary:
In Richard II, Shakespeare left lessons for us on the effects of speech acts by leaders on the public stage. The "I" in Richard's speeches is always new: "Thus play I in one person many people" (5.5.31). Recent theories of pardons and promises made in the public sphere call attention to the layers of voices, heretofore hidden, in the first-person utterances of Richard as he attempts to interrupt the rush of history toward vengeance. Employing speech-act theory, we discover today that Shakespeare lets each utterance create a new voice and history for England. Shakespeare gives Richard time to begin to speak and study the world that each "I" utterance produces. The play, known for its rich language, reveals even more voices behind the public face of a king about to die: a confessor, a subject, a prisoner, a Christian, a husband, and a soldier. In every syllable spoken as first-person speaker, Richard moves the audience in images of mirrors and music through a drama of attempts to study a life.
Title: Time, place, and agency in "Richard II".
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Name(s): Goddard, Jennifer Sunshine.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Faraci, Mary, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2004
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 129 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: In Richard II, Shakespeare left lessons for us on the effects of speech acts by leaders on the public stage. The "I" in Richard's speeches is always new: "Thus play I in one person many people" (5.5.31). Recent theories of pardons and promises made in the public sphere call attention to the layers of voices, heretofore hidden, in the first-person utterances of Richard as he attempts to interrupt the rush of history toward vengeance. Employing speech-act theory, we discover today that Shakespeare lets each utterance create a new voice and history for England. Shakespeare gives Richard time to begin to speak and study the world that each "I" utterance produces. The play, known for its rich language, reveals even more voices behind the public face of a king about to die: a confessor, a subject, a prisoner, a Christian, a husband, and a soldier. In every syllable spoken as first-person speaker, Richard moves the audience in images of mirrors and music through a drama of attempts to study a life.
Identifier: 9780496262007 (isbn), 13159 (digitool), FADT13159 (IID), fau:12637 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2004.
Subject(s): Richard,--II,--King of England,--1367-1400.
Great Britain--History--Richard II, 1377-1399.
Speech acts (Linguistics)
Semantics.
Discourse analysis.
Shakespeare, William,--1564-1616--Language.
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13159
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.