ABSTRACT
England is perceived as a female figure, a process crucial to projecting national ambitions onto it, and to developing the concept of a specifically male English nation. This interpretation that King John propagates love for the nation as a new faith of sorts does not necessarily run counter to the religious effect of the play. Indeed, it seems that the return of religion proposed by King John contains a national dimension, while the nationalism emerging at the close of the play has a religious quality. Thus, King John could be argued to remystify history and to reintroduce religion to the political world, both by demonstrating that without religious ideals politics will fail, and by suggesting that the stalemate of men's powers is eventually overcome by messianic figures. This chapter argues that Shakespeare's theatre tends to support, intentionally or not, the Anglican via media; now we may be more precise, for King John shows us how it does so.
