SOURCE: May, James E. “Imagery of Disorderly Motion in King John: A Thematic Gloss.” Essays in Literature 10, no. 1 (spring 1983): 17-28.

In the following essay, May posits that the image patterns used in King John evoke disorderly motion, expressing uncertainties in the play's characterizations and conflicts.

The political problems of Shakespeare's King John E. M. W. Tillyard has detailed as, “in the ascending order of importance, the succession, the ethics of rebellion, and the kingly character.”¹ M. M. Reese's definition of Shakespeare's concerns largely concurs: “John's flawed title, followed by his palpable wickedness, brings into question a subject's relationship with a man so evidently bad; and the answer, given in Faulconbridge's carefully weighed allegiance, says again that rebellion is the worst of evil. … The duty of obedience to a de facto king, however bad, could not be more explicitly stated.”² Like Tillyard, Reese sees Shakespeare reworking the problem of...