Earth, realm, England: national identity and the land in the English history plays of William Shakespeare

Thesis

When John of Gaunt speaks of ‘this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England’, his words elide local plots of earth with the realm as a whole, suggesting the ‘earth’ (ie. soil) of the ‘blessed plot’ is a necessary component of the ‘realm’ of ‘England’. The order is intriguing: Gaunt begins on a granular level, the physical soil. From there he moves to a plot, a term commonly designating a small area of land. Next is the realm. Commonly understood as a kingdom, the term can also be...

Expand abstract

Authors: Fairbanks, C

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-nzpqkqemw
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Henry VI; Ecofeminism; Henry V; Shakespeare; Richard II; History play; Ecocriticism; National identity; Henry IV
• Subjects: Early modern, 1500-1700; Literature