Shakespeare's King Richard III And The Problematics Of Tudor Bastardy?

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In his article, "Shakespeare 's King Richard III and the Problematics of Tudor Bastardy", Maurice Hunt gives a convincing (dare I say legitimate!) argument for why he believes Shakespeare took a large risk writing and performing his play King Richard III during the life of Queen Elizabeth I. Knowing the challenges Elizabeth faced during her childhood and into her reign because of her father, King Henry VIII 's ever-changing mind whether or not she was a legitimate heir or a bastard, I agree with Hunt in the fact Shakespeare took a huge risk with his performances of Richard III, if in fact she did see the performance which is something I will be touching on later on, but for the sake of the review of his article I will be focusing on his argument based on Elizabeth being present. Hunt also spends a great deal explaining the history of bastardry in the Tudor family so that we can understand why that …show more content…

And finally an interesting point is brought up regarding missing lines from the original play 's script and performances regarding bastardry in the 1597 Quarto.
Firstly, Hunt explains to his readers the history of bastardry throughout the Tudor dynasty so that it is clear how the content of King Richard III reflected Tudor bastardry and why this was a potential risk for Shakespeare. He begins with John Beaufort the Earl of Somerset, who was Henry VII 's great grandfather who was declared a bastard . He then goes on to Henry VII 's grandfather Owen Tudor who fell in love with Catharine of Valois (the widow of Henry V). They had three children, Edmund, Jasper and Owen, however his sources show that Owen and Catharine may in fact never have been married, or at least right away,

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