King John Power Quotes

Shakespeare doesn't waste any time, does he? These lines, almost the first ones in the play, tell us everything we need to know about the play's central conflict. Here, Châtillon's speech tells us that it's only because of power that John is king of England: if they were strictly following the law of succession, young Arthur would be king. (Arthur was next in line to inherit the crown, but John ended up pretty much just taking it after King Richard died because he could.) King Philip wants John to give up his crown to Arthur, but he can't just ask for it nicely: he has to have the military force—"The proud control of fierce and bloody war"—to back his up his demand. And, of course, John has military power at his own disposal, which is why he dares Châtillon to bring it on in the last lines of this quotation.

Dang. Even King John's own mother admits that John doesn't actually have a legal "right" to be king—although we should point out that she only admits this in private. Publicly, she supports John's claim to the throne. In saying that it will be John's "strong possession" and not his "right" that he can rely on, Eleanor basically says that John will only stay on the throne as long as he can maintain it by force.

The key reflection on power in this speech comes in lines 214-215, in which the Bastard says that he won't set out to deceive people but still has to learn how to do so in order to avoid being deceived himself. This gets to the core of the play's teaching about power: if you want to avoid getting pushed around by powerful people, you have to be powerful yourself. (Just think about what happens to Arthur and Constance. As it turns out, most of the quotations dealing with them show up under the next theme: "Weakness.") Sometimes that power comes from military force, sometimes (as in the Bastard's case here) it comes from cleverness. Either way, King John gives the impression that the best defense is a strong offense.

Poor little Arthur. This kid's just not cut out for all the political drama that surrounds him. (Then again, what child would be?) Here, it's obvious that Arthur isn't (yet) fit to be ruler England. He bursts into tears when his mom and grandmother fight over who should be king. How the heck is he supposed to govern a nation? The answer is that he's not, and everybody knows it—especially the people who support his claim. Why do they support his claim, after all? Because they want him to be their political puppet. (Constance and King Philip, we're looking at you.)

The citizens of Angers base their decision on which king to submit to entirely based on how much force each king displays. From the standpoint of power politics, this makes perfect sense. Think about it: if the citizens of Angers make an alliance with the weaker of the two kings, then the stronger of the two kings will just attack them, anyway, and defeat them (because he will be fighting against the weaker king). Then, he will probably kill the citizens of Angers, just to punish them for having supported the other guy. On the other hand, if the citizens of Angers side with the stronger king, then they will be protected against the weaker king in case the weaker king then attacks them. But the only way they can find out which king is stronger is by watching them fight it out outside the city. Thus, they refuse to open their gates until "it be undoubted" which army is the strongest.

In these lines, King John refers to a political theory that was widespread in Shakespeare's day, known as the Divine Right of Kings. As the name suggests—and as John's speech outright says—it held that kings "under God, are supreme head," meaning that nobody, not even the Pope, had authority over them.

When King John says that he can rule just fine on his own, without the help of any "mortal hand," couldn't this reference to the "hand," the source of physical strength, be a subtle dig at the Church, whose power, in theory at least, was spiritual, and not material? As we will see, though, John underestimates the danger posed to him by the Church's special kind of power.

As you can see in this line, the Church doesn't need a vast army to wield power. Religious belief was an even more potent force in the medieval period than it is today. By sending out this call to the devout citizens of England, telling them they will be "blessed" if they revolt against this "heretic"—and that the person who kills that heretic will become a saint, for crying out loud—Cardinal Pandolf is able to wield tremendous power. Sometimes, the right words, coming from the right person, can be more powerful than an army. (Of course, this is partly because those words can inspire new armies to appear.)

In these lines, King John shows that he has learned something about the limits of power. Earlier in the play, he had thought that the best way to keep himself safe was to murder young Arthur, thus removing the one person who could challenge his legal right to the throne. What he forgot to take into account was the outrage this action would provoke. As it turns out, his decision to have Arthur imprisoned and executed ends up provoking the exact same reaction—a revolt—that it was supposed to prevent. Could the lesson simply be that no individual can wield unlimited power, because the world is just too complicated and unpredictable? Or could John have been able to wield more power if he had had more foresight?

In these lines, Pandolf places great confidence in his own power of speech. His words made Louis mount an expedition against England, and they also made King John surrender his crown to the Pope. Now he thinks that his words will be able to make Louis back down from his expedition. Is this a realistic hope? Why or why not?

Well, maybe there are limits to the Church's power, too. Yes, the words spoken by Pandolf can inspire Louis to raise an army and march against England. But it isn't the words that will lay siege to the English towns; it's Louis's army that will. And, Louis seems to be saying, once that expedition is under way, it takes on a momentum of its own and can't be stopped by mere words. Reading these lines together with the other quotes in this section, it looks like King John doesn't have a simple message about power. Power isn't all about military strength, and it isn't all about words; it's something extremely subtle and hard to grasp.