" Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test .
a man's character, give him power" (Abraham Lincoln).
.
The graceful poetry on the pages of Shakespeare develops the character King .
John page by page. Shakespeare creates the play King John based on the .
actual merciless King John that rules England from 1199 until he dies in 1216. To King .
John, power conquers mercy. He dismisses compassion in his warning to France, his .
traitorous lords, and his rending of peace. The poetic, bloodthirsty character, King John, .
heeds warning to the French.
In the beginning, the heeded warning of King John, the main character, sends an .
icy chill down the spine of France. France is to withdraw from English land that is located.
near the gaunt city of Angiers. King John is negotiating for a war with King Philip, king .
of France, if Philip does not vacate England's land and return to the native soil of France. .
In King John's caution to Philip, he declares, " France, I am burned up with inflaming .
wrath, a rage whose heat this condition, that nothing can alley, nothing but blood- the .
blood; and dearest- valued blood, of France" (III, ii, 355-58). In King John's strive to.
show France the power of England, John relinquishes mercy to behold the blood of .
France upon his sword. The shivering spine of France secedes from England on the .
threat of the English King, John.
Furthermore, an analyst of Shakespearean plays invisions the warnings of King.
John a false precept to display egotistical power. Edward Dowden, the analyst, has read .
and written a response on twenty-one Shakespearean plays. In the responses of .
Perron 3.
Dowden, he examines the interior of the play and not specifically one character. The .
opening of his criticisms defines King John's warning. Dowden writes, " There a little in .
the play of King John which strengthens or gladdens the heart. In the tug of selfish power .
hither and thither, amidst the struggle of kindly greeds and priestly pride, amidst the sales .
