Interdisciplinary Examination of Improvisation of Power, Tyranny and Chaos in William Shakespeare’s King John and Henry VIII

Subject Areas :

Azita Zamani ¹ , Zahra Bordbari ^{2 *} , Javad Yaghoobi Derabi ³

1 - Department of Foreign Languages, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of English Language and Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran

Received: 2023-11-01 Accepted : 2024-01-31 Published : 2025-07-07

Keywords: Chaos/Chaotics, Empathy, Improvisation of Power, Tyrant/Tyranny,

Abstract :

The present study examines Stephen Greenblatt's theories on the Improvisation of Power and Tyranny in the light of Chaos Theory in William Shakespeare's King John and Henry VIII to investigate the complex web of nonviolent psychological dominance over the human mind based on empathy through displacement and absorption, modifying the symbolic order to generate or restrict chaos. The vicissitudes of a tyrant and the underlying factors that make up the infrastructure of the various tyranny in King John and Henry VIII are investigated and how tyrants take advantage of the improvisation of power to exercise power and carry out their mostly tyrannical and Machiavellian plans to create a new desired order out of the stimulated chaos. When the initial order is disturbed deliberately by the improvisors, entropy maximizes to the level of a secondary order, ensued from disorder and trivial fluctuations end up in significant changes. Controlling the chaotic situation to acquire the desired outcomes is the goal of improvisors, however, different results are due to multiple contributing factors such as their ability on manipulating reality, as it is seen in the divergent paths, to which each play is drawn. Both monarchs defy the prevailing religious narrative, yet it is Henry VIII's ability to improvise ensures his victory, whereas King John's failure stems from his inability to strategically exploit the tumultuous circumstances to his advantage. Pandulph’s triumph over King John proves how the improvisation of power deconstructs traditional hierarchical power relations and can make them horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or ascending.

References:

Brannigan, J. (2016). New historicism and cultural materialism, Bloomsbury Publishing.
Chernaik, W. (2007). The Cambridge in-troduction to Shakespeare's history plays Cambridge University Press.
Cunningham, J. (1997). Shakespeare's Tragedies and Modern Critical Theory, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
Dollimore, J. and A. Sinfield (1994). Political Shakespeare: essays in cultural materialism, Manchester University Press.
Greenblatt, S. (2005). The Greenblatt Read-er. United States: Blackwell Pub.
Greenblatt, S. (2018). Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics. United States: W. W. Norton.
Hayles, N. K. (1991). Chaos and Order: Complex Dynamics in Literature and Science, University of Chicago Press.
Hayles, N. K. (2018). Chaos Bound: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science, Cornell University Press.
Lerner, D. (1967). The Passing of Traditional Society; Modernizing the Middle East. United States: Free Press.
Montrose, L. A. (1981). A Poetics of Renaissance Culture, JSTOR.
Reese, M. M. (1961). The cease of majesty: a study of Shakespeare's history plays, London, E. Arnold.
Shakespeare, W. (1590s/2007). Henry VIII. edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon & Schuster Paper-backs, The Folger Shakespeare Library.
Shakespeare, W. (1590s/2000). The Life and the Death of King John. edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon & Schuster Paper-backs, The Folger Shakespeare Li-brary.
Slethaug, G. E. (2012). Beautiful Chaos: Chaos Theory and Metachaotics in Recent American Fiction, State Uni-versity of New York Press.
Williams, G. (1997). Chaos Theory Tamed, CRC Press.