King John
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Summary
King John is a weak, scheming, and ultimately pathetic monarch who holds a throne many consider usurped from his nephew Arthur. He wrestles simultaneously with French military pressure, papal excommunication, a baronial revolt, and the weight of his own guilty conscience over Arthur. His complicity in ordering Arthur's blinding — even if he cannot quite bring himself to see it through — and his subsequent isolation and poisoning make him one of Shakespeare's most ignominious kings.
Notable Quotations
"Our strong possession and our right for us." *(1.1)*
"Hadst thou but shook thy head or made a pause / When I spake darkly what I purposed, / Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face, / As bid me tell my tale in express words, / Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break off." *(4.2)*
"Within me is a hell; and there the poison / Is as a fiend confin'd to tyrannize / On unreprievable condemned blood." *(5.7)*