Essay about The Words of the Dying Gaunt - 1010 Words

The idea of England as a second paradise in a postlapsarian world was a popular thought in Shakespeares day. Not only did Englanders compare their land the to Biblical Eden, but also to Classical legends that would have flourished in the Renaissance era. The fact that Britain is an island isolated from the rest of the world invited the comparison of England to mythical islands such as the Islands of the Blest and Homers Ogygia (Mackenzie 319). Such comparisons surely originated in the strong patriotism that thrived in the Elizabethan era. Shakespeare capitalized on this feeling through his history plays, which both instructed his audience on Englands past and fed the patriotic ego of her citizens (Reese 46). Nowhere does†¦show more content†¦This warning foreshadows Richards confiscation of Gaunts estate and the rebellion staged by Bullingbrook, Gaunts son and rightful heir. The next portion of Gaunts speech reverberates the idea of England as a second paradise. The image of England throughout Richard II is not only presented through pictures of glorious landscape and well-tended gardens, but through its citizens, both royal and common (Stauffer 92). Gaunt fluidly but forcefully presents images of England throughout his speech. He gives a list of qualities in a rhythmic tour de force (Best), which connects all of Englands attributes with the word this: This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself (40-44) These images present England as embodying physical attributes given by God. Gaunt continues this list of attributes by also praising Englands citizens by referring to them as This happy breed of men(45). The land is therefore credited for producing high-quality men, lending to the theme of England as female, fertile and mother to all her inhabitants. She is furtherShow MoreRelatedRichard II And Richard II Comparison843 Words   |  4 Pages(Richard) and Gaunt can be portrayed as extremely different characters from a superficial lens. When the two characters are analyzed using two poetic devices, it is revealed that they have extreme similarities that relate to their true selves. In both 2.1.93-138-139 and 5.5.106-107 of the play, it is revealed that Gaunt and Richard individually express pent up behavior that because they are both close to reaching death in those moments. Textual evidence justifies the argument that Gaunt and RichardRead More Shakespeare’s Richard II Essay: The Rape of a Nation1417 Words   |  6 Pagesautocracy. Gaunt proclaims t hat King Richard should relinquish his crown, because he has figuratively raped mother England by exploiting the loyalty of his subjects and debasing the grandeur of this blessed plot (2.1.50) for his own personal glory. John of Gaunts speech takes place from his deathbed. 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This admonition can be read in two ways- that Richard will be killed in England, making the land his death-bed by virtue of his dying on it, or that the sickness that will kill Richard is the sickness of the land; the outrages done byRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Cyrano De Bergerac834 Words   |  4 Pageswhich prevented to reach his full potential in life. Christian, a man that Roxanne is in love with because of his attractive looks that reeled her in but little does she know, he is not fluent in expressing himself in words. Meanwhile, Cyrano may have inner beauty of his eloquent words, but his nose. His nose was one of the main reasons why he was so insecure to pursue the woman of his dreams. To add on, he already knows that his nose is excessively large which is why he keep teasing people about hisRead More Death in Edgar Allan Poes Life and The Masque of the Red Death1468 Words   |  6 PagesPoe lost his mother. 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Asquith begins his poem by describing the miserable, mundane life of a clerk, working in a city grey. He opens with the words Here lies that are normally used to begin writing on a gravestone. This epitaph - style opening gives the idea that the clerk has now passed away and the poem will concentrate on