By Dr Oliver Tearle

'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle': so begins probably the well-nigh famous speech from Richard II, William Shakespeare's 1590s history play about the fall of the Plantagenet king. These words are spoken by the dying John of Gaunt, and the phrases he uses – from 'this royal throne of kings' and 'this sceptre isle' to 'this other Eden' and many others – take become known in the popular consciousness. Before nosotros go on to a brusk analysis of the significant of John of Gaunt's speech, hither's a reminder of what he says, in Human action II Scene 1:

This regal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This world of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy brood of men, this picayune world,
This precious stone fix in the argent sea,
Which serves it in the function of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Confronting the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this world, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth,
Renowned for their deeds as far from dwelling house,
For Christian service and true chivalry,
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry,
Of the world's bribe, blessed Mary'due south Son,
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the earth,
Is now leased out, I die pronouncing it,
Like to a tenement or pelting farm:
England, spring in with the triumphant sea
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now spring in with shame,
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.
Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life,
How happy then were my ensuing death!

This speech is embedded in many people'southward minds as a paean to England as a peachy nation, and certainly John of Gaunt comes out with a string of memorable epithets to describe England hither. But the context of the speech is very dissimilar: John of Gaunt is lamenting the fact that England is being 'leased out' nether King Richard Ii. Every bit he lies dying, John of Gaunt pronounces the death of England.

'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle': summary

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This world of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,

John of Gaunt begins by appealing to the royal power of England, ruled over past a succession of 'kings' with their crown and sceptre. Nonetheless, information technology's worth remembering that these words, though often quoted exterior of the play, are actually part of a longer speech Gaunt makes at this indicate.

When Gaunt goes on to notice that England is 'this seat of Mars', he reminds us that kings accept only held onto their kingdom considering of their warlike nature, Mars being the Roman god of war, of course. England is similar another Garden of Eden, halfway towards being paradise: an earthly paradise.

This fortress built past Nature for herself
Against infection and the mitt of war,
This happy breed of men, this piffling earth,
This jewel gear up in the argent sea,
Which serves information technology in the function of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blest plot, this earth, this realm, this England,

John of Gaunt then goes on to analyse England's advantages in terms of might and defense: these come down to its island condition, as beingness a 'precious stone set up in the silver sea', continuing autonomously from the mainland of Europe.

Nature has built England as a 'fortress': the fact that England (more accurately, England, Scotland, and Wales, of course!) stands islanded apart from the mainland makes information technology like a fortress to withstand invasion or attack, with the bounding main washing England's shores acting much as a moat does effectually a castle.

This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fright'd by their breed and famous by their birth,

John of Gaunt acknowledges how many kings England has produced, like a fertile 'womb' bringing forth lots of children. The English language feared these kings for their mighty power, and these kings were famous because of their royal blood.

Renowned for their deeds equally far from home,
For Christian service and true chivalry,
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry,
Of the world'south ransom, blessed Mary's Son,

Even when far from England, such as when the were fighting away in the Crusades or on some other Christian mission (the Crusades centred on the Holy Land of Jerusalem, hence the reference to 'the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry'), these kings were famous and celebrated for their actions.

This land of such beloved souls, this dear love land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is at present leased out, I dice pronouncing it,
Like to a tenement or pelting farm:

John descends into repetition of the give-and-take 'beloved', as if he has become so aroused and downhearted past how low England has fallen, that he has run out of synonyms for describing this great land. England had a great reputation throughout the globe merely is now existence sold off and 'leased out', like someone selling off a small-scale farm. ('Pelting' here means 'paltry' or 'trivial', and stands in contrast to the repeated use of 'dearest', suggesting high budgetary value as well every bit something regarded fondly.)

England, leap in with the triumphant bounding main
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now spring in with shame,
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.

That enemy of any great culture, excessive bureaucracy, has now led to England's downfall. Those 'inky blots and rotten parchment bonds' used to sign England away are trivial and transient compared with the stable and abiding 'rocky shore' that has protected England for so long; and yet those inky blots have succeeded where invading armies often take failed. England, for John, is finished. And England has been destroyed or conquered, not by some foreign army, just past itself, from within.

Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life,
How happy so were my ensuing death!

If this state of affairs would disappear when John dies, and England's former celebrity be restored, he would exist happy to die, knowing that England would be saved in the process. But he knows this isn't going to happen.

'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle': analysis

John of Gaunt'southward spoken language is a classic example of anaphora. This is a rhetorical term which describes the repetition of a give-and-take (or words) at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines. And then Gaunt's insistent 'This … this … this …' works to link together his succession of images, emotive and evocative phrases, which summon the one time-great strength and might of England.

How much we should credit John of Gaunt'south words, and how far we should see them as ironic, is something worth stopping to consider and analyse. After all, saying England'south island status protects it against 'infection and the hand of state of war' rather overlooks the various outbreaks of plague which England had been subjected to, both in Shakespeare'south time and in the real John of Gaunt'southward (he was alive when the kickoff wave of Black Death arrived in England, in 1348; and Shakespeare wrote Richard Ii in around 1595, shortly after the London playhouses had been reopened post-obit their closure owing to another outbreak of pestilence).

And it overlooks the fact that during Richard's reign, England was engaged in a bloody war with France, to say null of the various invasions that had helped to make England the 'happy breed of men' and the 'picayune world' (so, not such a parochial island afterwards all, then?) that Gaunt proudly proclaims it to exist. England would undoubtedly not have been such a proud and warlike race if that race hadn't been forged in the wake of the Roman and Norman invasions, for instance.

And, of course, England has raged war overseas, not but in French republic just in the Middle East:

This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd past their breed and famous by their nascence,
Renowned for their deeds as far from abode,
For Christian service and true chivalry,
Equally is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry,
Of the earth'due south ransom, blessed Mary'south Son

These words of Gaunt's refer to England'due south involvement in the Crusades, when another King Richard of England, Richard the Lionheart, had travelled to Jerusalem to face off against Saladin and the Muslim fighters in the Holy Land.

And 'land' is how Gaunt sees England now: as a plot of land that is beingness 'leased out'. When Male monarch Richard Ii arrives soon after Gaunt has delivered this spoken communication, John of Gaunt calls out the male monarch for surrounding himself with flatterers and allowing the once-great nation of England to get to ruin. And so, what appear to exist words praising England'south greatness are, in fact, elegiac: John of Gaunt fears that England is no longer swell.

And in maxim this, he prophesies the civil war to follow, whereby Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke, whom Richard has banished from the kingdom, volition return and challenge Richard, eventually (spoiler alarm) usurping him and taking the throne for himself. Gaunt is Richard'southward uncle, just he is Bolingbroke'due south male parent. His words are not spoken purely out of familial acrimony, though, but – as Duke of Lancaster and a powerful figure in the realm – as i who loves England only fears it is being destroyed by a bad, weak ruler.

The author of this article, Dr Oliver Tearle, is a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University. He is the author of, among others,The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers' Journey Through Curiosities of History  andThe Great War, The Waste Land and the Modernist Long Poem.

Image: via Wikimedia Eatables.