SOURCE: Elliot, John R. “Shakespeare and the Double Image of King John.” Shakespeare Studies 1 (1965): 64-84.

In the following essay, Elliot argues that Shakespeare's King John reveals the playwright's understanding of the Elizabethans ambiguous and complex interpretations of King John. Elliot shows that while the play's original audiences most likely would have sympathized with John as a nationalist and as a Protestant martyr, Shakespeare's John is also depicted as a usurper and potential murderer.

I

The study of the sources of literary works is usually, and with good reason, confined to books which the author in question can be demonstrated to have known.¹ Unless we are fortunate enough to have a record of his library, the only direct knowledge we can have of an author's sources is through the palpable impression that they make upon his works: books that he ought to have known, ideas and opinions that he...