King John by William Shakespeare

As I continue to read Shakespeare's histories and now being aware of the chronology of the stories in the sense of the history of the characters I have started at the beginning with King John.

In this play we learn of the eruption of violence between King John and the followers of his nephew Arthur of France. An interesting play telling of the conquest of a French town by both forces that comes close to being the rare town to displease both potential masters. A wedding takes place. Arthur is said to have been killed , but it is a ruse and then he is but by his own hand.

In the end the King of England wins the score but dies anyway. This sets up Prince Henry to the throne. This trail of succession happened often in the 1200's . I look forward to the next story.

The language is hard and I admit freely that I sometimes run though a long soliloquy if it runs thick. Most of the time I fight through and am rewarded. It is not hard to see why Shakespeare's plays are still so contemporary. The stories themselves are timeless. Love, intrigue, jealousy, war, these are all subjects people go to see today and few compare with the basic text of Shakespeare's ideas.