James, Parliament, Shakespeare, kingship, Richard II, Matthew XIII, parable
<< previous
next >>
55
occasions.
99
By fostering the impression that he wields royal prerogative independently James disassociates himself from those thought to have excessive control over policy-making, although, as Alastair Bellany notices, he does defend his right to choose such advisors.
100
It is notable that the proclamation announcing the dissolution of Parliament, unlike James’s poem, is particularly scrupulous in its discernment between good members of the House and bad ones, whom it claims were responsible for the decision being taken to dissolve Parliament.
101
The comparison highlights further the shortcomings of James’s rhetoric; especially when seen in light of the obvious analogy between his gardening metaphor for his subjects as “stinkinge weeds” and the gardening scene in Shakespeare’s Richard II in which the gardener delegates responsibility to his man to “Go thou, and like an executioner/ Cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays/ That look too lofty in our commonwealth” (III.iv.33-5). Shakespeare implies that prudent kingship rests in the art of such delegation as James appears to avoid in his hands-on attitude to government.
The metaphor derives from the parable of Matthew XIII. 24-30 in which the householder instructs his servant to harvest the good seed and burn the tares (weeds) in an analogy relating to the treatment that good and bad Christians might expect respectively. The parable provided a commonplace biblical example of prudent delegation and
Hughes and Larkin eds (1973), I. pp.497-8 and pp.527-34.
99 See Willson (1963), p.416, p.419 and p.423.
100 Bellany (1994), p.294. The January proclamation states that,
In the generall proceedings of that House, there are many footsteppes of loving and well affected duetie to Us: yet some ill tempered spirits, have sowed tares among the corne, and thereby frustrated the hope of that plentifull and good harvest, which might have multiplyed the wealth and welfare of this whole land.
101
Hughes and Larkin eds (1973), I. p.533.
<< previous
next >>
Stumble It!
