Timon of Athens and Jacobean Politics

Summary

What exactly is the relationship between Shakespeare’s plays and their political significance? It is clear that large political issues determine the form and content of the plays he wrote, even if their political focus and direction often appear enigmatic to commentators. It surely cannot be a coincidence that Shakespeare’s history plays, all of which date from the 1590s (except the late collaboration Henry VIII), deal extensively and obsessively with the question of the monarch’s legitimacy and the problem of the succession. These were the issues that dominated political discussions and literary representations of Elizabeth, who actively forbade her subjects to talk openly about her – and their – future. After 1603, Shakespeare produced a number of plays that deal with the matter of Britain – King Lear, Macbeth and Cymbeline – suggesting that his use of history had altered along with the new issues raised by James’s reign. James’s accession undoubtedly transformed the political agenda: certain approaches and burning issues were put to one side or disappeared altogether, and others came to the fore and assumed a vital new importance.