Shakespeare’s Richard II deals with the controversy between the divine and the mortal aspects of the King. According to Kantorowicz’s The King’s Two Bodies, the King had two bodies: a Body Natural and a Body Politic. In the deposition scene of the play, Richard exploits the divine authority by undoing himself as if in a sacramental ceremony and asks for a mirror in order to see whether the change in his kingly nature has affected his face. My paper will deal with the unfolding of unendurable truth and the self-representation of Richard II in the duality of his image within the cracked mirror.
Memory plays an important role in most of Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare delves into the dark realms of human consciousness to reflect the disturbed minds and gnawing consciences of his characters with a profound psychological insight into the human psyche. Time, memory, madness and death seem to be the basic issues dealt with in his canon. My paper will address the uncontrollable mnemonic fragments within the human consciousness which reflect past traumas, fears and disturbances and will examine the cases of Ophelia and Lady Macbeth from a feminist reading of women.
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