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Podcast: British History: Royals, Rebels, and Romantics
Episode: Shakespeare, Richard II, and the Essex Rebellion
Description: Like so many things, playmaking in Elizabethan England was more than it appeared. History plays could promote the message of the Queen’s reign and Tudor dynasty. But Shakespeare was more interested in breaking down leadership and all the expectations people had of leaders. In Richard II, Shakespeare pulls the curtain back on Richard’s thinking. He brings us right into Richard’s mind and heart. We hear Richard speak from his heart. Shakespeare gives Richard some of the most poetic speeches in any his plays. Some of the things Richard says about his worth, his identify, his val...