6.1.4

Regicide

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Regicide in Elizabethan England

As part of the belief in a cosmic hierarchy which placed the monarch just below God and his angels, regicide (the killing of a king or queen) was considered a terrible crime.

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Removing corrupt rulers

  • A monarch had been appointed by God to do His work, and only God could remove him or her.
  • However, there was still some sympathy for the republican tradition of ancient Rome which argued that a corrupt ruler should be removed.
  • Shakespeare had explored the tension between these opposing beliefs in the tragedy which came immediately before HamletJulius Caesar (1599).
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Challenge to authority

  • As Jonathan Bate has argued, "drama thrives on disorder" and part of the thrill of Shakespeare’s plays lies in the challenge to authority in plays such as Julius Caesar.
  • However, we should remember that Shakespeare’s plays always end with the restoration of order.

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1Introduction

2Plot Summary

3Character Profiles

4Key Themes

5Writing Techniques

6Context

7Critical Debates

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