Fight fire with fire Why Should I Care

Why Should I Care?

King John is about the struggle to get and hold on to political power, a topic Shakespeare returns to repeatedly in his history plays and tragedies. On the one hand, the play portrays King John as an unscrupulous ruler who'll do just about anything to remain in power. Even killing his nephew.

At the same time, though, power can also operate on a more personal level: King John's attempts at keeping the throne involves several small-scale power struggles between him and his adversaries. When his own nobles refuse to back him, he takes it personally.

Clearly the Elizabethans liked looking back on their own history, especially when it involved a really juicy political story that was near and dear to their hearts. In a day and age when rulers weren't elected by popular vote, the play raises some big questions:

• What gives a king (or queen) the right to rule?
• If subjects are supposed to be obedient to the monarch, what the heck are they supposed to do when the king's a rotten leader or a tyrant?
• Is it ever okay for subjects to rebel against their ruler?

The play is asking us to decide some pretty big questions. But the Bastard is saying: who cares about any of that? You've got the crown, now let's fight as hard and as powerfully as we possibly can to keep it. So what if your nobles hate you? So what if you plotted your nephew's death? If you give us fire, we'll retaliate.