Other Englands: Regionalism in Shakespeare's first historical tetralogy
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation examines the representation of England in the plays of the first tetralogy. Arguing that a large number of studies of Shakespearian drama have tended to gloss over the inherent differences within the English nation. I suggest that regionalism and regional identity play a pivotal role in Shakespeare's dramatisation of English history from the accession of Henry VI to the death of Richard Ill. In this thesis I propose that the first tetralogy is not only a representation of the past, but an expression of the political, cultural and geographical divisions within England during the period of the plays first production. While Shakespeare's first tetralogy forms part of an interconnecting discourse of nationhood -- contributing to what has been termed the discovery of England -- I explore how the plays also serve to highlight the extent to which regionalism and regional diversity remained powerful factors within English society. By drawing attention to the proliferation of geographical references in the tetralogy, I discuss how the localisation of scenes and the identification of characters with specific places represents an encounter with the kingdom beyond the confines of the theatre. In a series of plays that appear to be principally concerned with the struggle between rival dynasties for control of the realm, the various regional references can be read as the site of competing voices and sectional interests: an acknowledgment of not one England, but various other Englands. While the image of the regional world in these plays is largely informed by the chronicle sources, this study considers how Shakespeare's fashioning of regional identity was governed by the need for Elizabethan acting companies to secure and maintain the protection of powerful and influential patrons, by censorship, company rivalry, and the demands placed on theatre companies by touring. With this in mind, I argue that the manner in which certain characters and regions are presente…
abstract: This dissertation examines the representation of England in the plays of the first tetralogy. Arguing that a large number of studies of Shakespearian drama have tended to gloss over the inherent differences within the English nation. I suggest that regionalism and regional identity play a pivotal role in Shakespeare's dramatisation of English history from the accession of Henry VI to the death of Richard Ill. In this thesis I propose that the first tetralogy is not only a representation of the past, but an expression of the political, cultural and geographical divisions within England during the period of the plays first production. While Shakespeare's first tetralogy forms part of an interconnecting discourse of nationhood -- contributing to what has been termed the discovery of England -- I explore how the plays also serve to highlight the extent to which regionalism and regional diversity remained powerful factors within English society. By drawing attention to the proliferation of geographical references in the tetralogy, I discuss how the localisation of scenes and the identification of characters with specific places represents an encounter with the kingdom beyond the confines of the theatre. In a series of plays that appear to be principally concerned with the struggle between rival dynasties for control of the realm, the various regional references can be read as the site of competing voices and sectional interests: an acknowledgment of not one England, but various other Englands. While the image of the regional world in these plays is largely informed by the chronicle sources, this study considers how Shakespeare's fashioning of regional identity was governed by the need for Elizabethan acting companies to secure and maintain the protection of powerful and influential patrons, by censorship, company rivalry, and the demands placed on theatre companies by touring. With this in mind, I argue that the manner in which certain characters and regions are presente…
author: Cattle, Graham
keywords: Regionalism, Great Britain, Historiography., English Language and Literature
date published: 1999-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-27T19:23:00Z
provider: Edith Cowan University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia