SOURCE: “Richard II and the Myth of the Fisher King,” in Cahiers Elisabethains, No. 30, October, 1986, pp. 75-8.

In the following essay, Lamoine reviews the parallels between elements of the myth of the Fisher King and Richard II. Lamoine suggests that an understanding of such parallels can inform one's reading of the play by emphasizing the play's religious issues as well as the seriousness of the crime of deposing a king.

In his introduction to the Arden Shakespeare, Peter Ure analyses the “question of political allegory” of the play, in terms of its relevance to contemporary situations and problems at the end of Elizabeth's reign.¹ This note suggests a possibility of analysing the play in the light of the well-known myth of the Fisher King. The question is not here one of checking Shakespeare's sources and reading: it is generally accepted that he could be at least familiar with...