The Legitimacy of Rule and Kingship in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2

By setting the opening of atomic number 1 IV, amid political instability and jolting rebellion, questions of kingship and the legitimacy of that power are immediately thrust to the cutting edge of audience consciousness; yet, it is these tensions which ram down the plot. The bleak opening lines mouth by atomic number 1 IV: so shaken as we are, so wan with occupy  are understandable when considering that the realm he rules over is jeopardize on two borders and that the real nobles who brought him to power are at once attempting to unseat him. The threat of the Scotch is made all the much ominous since they are aid by the northern nobles, who aid heat content when he usurped Richard II, as they have already prove their efficiency when it comes to removing a coronate sovereign. In addition thither is the threat from the Welsh, which is intensified by the marriage of Edmund Mortimer (a captive Englishman) to the miss of the Welsh leader, troubling since Mortimer arg uably has a better aim to the throne than the Kings own. In the perplexing world which we are presented with in the opening scenes of 1 Henry IV we are conceivable to ask we are potential to question the legitimacy of the monarch in relation to the volatility of the country and the consequences of rebelling against a ruler.\n champion obvious explanation for the occurrent troubles plaguing Henry is that he is non the rightful king, since he deposed his cousin Richard II, making his reign unlawful. D S Kastan1 claims; The real root system of instability rests in the means in which Henry has die king  and it is undeniable that the recollection of Richard II haunts these plays. In number 1 scene 3 Hotspur even unfavourably compares Henry with his predecessor: Richard, that sweet engaging move up / And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke (I.iii.174-5). there is an almost corrupt tonicity to the image of a rose and a thorn and by all odds a sense of pecking o rder; that one is beautiful and the new(prenominal) ugly and sharp. Perhaps...