SOURCE: Jones, Robert C. “Truth in King John.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 25, no. 2 (spring 1985): 397-417.

In the following essay, Jones concentrates on the thematic significance of truth and legitimacy in King John, particularly as these concepts are represented in the figure of Lord Faulconbridge, the Bastard.

Truth is a special concern of Shakespeare's histories in more than one regard. On the one hand, these plays present “true” stories in a way that the comedies, romances, and most of the tragedies do not. Shakespeare shapes his historical events and characters for dramatic purposes, of course, but he does not make fundamental changes in his story of the sort that give King Lear its crushing conclusion. If that point seems too obvious to need mentioning, it nonetheless has special significance for King John, as I hope to show. At the same time that they profess to give us true...