Date of Award
12-2009
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Loomis, Catherine;
Second Advisor
Bryant, Earle
Third Advisor
Krantz, Susan
Abstract
As Shakespeare composed the three history plays discussed here, English culture faced a shift in its dominant belief system from an animistic perspective that valued nature and superstition to a humanistic perspective based on reason and personal relationships. In Richard II, Shakespeare creates characters that fall on either side of this divide, and he shows humanism triumph over animism when Henry deposes Richard. In 1 Henry IV, Shakespeare shows that this binary is not so easily reconciled, and Hal (the future Henry V) creates a dual nature that subsumes the tenets of both animism and humanism. After the death of his father and his rejection of Falstaff in 2 Henry IV, Hal demonstrates that the only solution to the humanism/animism debate is to entirely reject the tenets of both and, instead, blend the two viewpoints together. The result is a newly formed conception of kingship and a hero-king.
Recommended Citation
Kottemann, Kathrin, ""Let heaven kiss earth!": The Function of Humanism and Animism in Shakespeare's Richard II and Henry IV, Parts I and II" (2009). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 999.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/999
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.