ABSTRACT
Chatillon, the play moves to the domestic claims of the Faulconbridges. This scene, as presented in King John, is a mutation of the opening: ‘legitimacy’ succeeds ‘right’. Now this is strictly true of The Troublesome Raigne of John King of England too, for the Bastard episode does indeed follow immediately upon Chatillon’s embassy. But the author of the Troublesome Raigne appears to have no real grasp of the possibilities of his material here. France’s claim is presented as a simple ultimatum; the word ‘right’ is never men tioned in the scene; Shakespeare’s dialogue between John and Eleanor, establishing the weakness of England’s claim, has no counterpart in the Troublesome Raigne. The human interest of the Faulconbridges is played up, the political ironies of the AngloFrench contention played down. Hence the episodes merely follow each other in the Troublesome Raigne. If, as most critics believe, Shakespeare reworked the material of the older play here, this fur nishes a classic instance of what Shakespeare brings to pre-existent material. The anonymous author has no idea of the gold he has thrown up, whereas Shakespeare has discerned the central possibility in the source. His perception is of bastardy as the metaphoric vehicle for political right and wrong, together with the role of the Bastard as the voice of challenge to the disputants in the major action. In Shakes peare, then, the consecutive episodes relate to a central core of meaning.
