of cities, the loveless marriage of the princes, the rumors and confusion of the people, a .
pathetic beauty illumines the boyish figure of Arthur, so graceful, so passive, untouched by .
the adult capacities and crimes of the others" (www.geocities.com). If power is selfish, .
mercy has been vanquished. Edward Dowden, the analyst, perceives John's augury as.
a selfish exhibition of domination.
Another Shakespearean critic views King John's actions towards France is an .
attempt to buy the French out. Harold Bloom is studding and writing about thirty-seven .
Shakespearean plays and others of that ere. Bloom uses the ideas of other critics to .
evolve his thoughts of the play. Bloom remarks, " Honigmann's John is a brilliant .
politician, who attempts to know everyone's price and to buy everyone off, but who also .
possesses "ungovernable passion as well as cunning dissimulation in his heart"" (57). John .
has the power to buy everyone off, and the scantiness of mercy to commit the act. The .
warning to France is the attempt to buy off France and send the French army home.
Now, John's warning, heard by all, send the French out of England.
However, King John's lords react to the threat and betray John and journey to the French .
forces to fight against England.
The lords of England join the fight against England to payback King John for his .
.
Perron 4.
lack of trust and craze for power. King John's drive for power and lack of trust have been .
studied by historians for years. Doctor Mike Ibeji has investigated the sedge for power and .
deficiency of trust for the past four years. He states, " The sad thing is that, from an .
objective point of view, John was really no worse then his contemporaries. His father .
Henry II had a reputation for untrustworthiness, matched only by the utter faithlessness.
of the French kings Louis and Philip Augustus" (www.bbc.com). Untrustworthiness is an .
indication that a powerful king will destroy a friend or a foe for power and dismiss the .
