What is it about?
The article discusses the verbal behaviour of King Henry VI in William Shakespeare's play King Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3 and how the King's language sets him out as a weak, inefficient speaker and ruler. I focus on the fact that Henry VI had immense problems protecting his image (or "face") in public interactions and had no awareness of the "political face" - every politician's desire to save face in social encounters. His linguistic inadequacy and passive behaviour cost him his crown and power. I am using for this analysis a pragmatic framework of "politeness" and "impoliteness" and "face theory".
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Why is it important?
The article offers an innovative way of using language and linguistic theories for characterisation in drama.
Perspectives
I have full belief that language is a powerful tool which can be used for literary characterisation. My article highlights the linguistic potential of Shakespeare's history play. It also proves that in Early Modern times, just like today, it is no longer enough to be born into a royal family - on the contrary, a ruler has to prove their worth as a politician, a good strategist, a smooth speaker and a master in deception. Henry VI lacks virtually all of these qualities, which brings him ruin - he has no understanding of the importance of the "political face" that every politician (whether in Shakespeare's times or nowadays) should display.
Urszula Kizelbach
Uniwersytet im Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
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This page is a summary of: The pragmatics of royal discourse in William Shakespeare’s Henry vi, Journal of Historical Pragmatics, October 2023, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/jhp.19012.kiz.
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