Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics

by Stephen Greenblatt

By statutes dating back to 1352, it was treasonable “to compass or imagine” the death of the king or queen or of the principal public officials.16 The use of the ambiguous term “imagine” left the government wide latitude to decide whom to prosecute, and it would certainly appear that the performance of Richard II at the Globe was treading on very dangerous ground. After all, Shakespeare’s play staged for a mass audience the spectacle of the toppling and murder of a crowned king, together with the summary execution of the king’s principal advisers. Yet the events depicted occurred in England’s past, and by a tacit agreement, such distance in time provided a certain immunity, so that actions that in a contemporary setting would instantly arouse the censor’s furious wrath and that might lead to criminal prosecution could be represented without great risk to the playwright and his company.