By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle’: so begins probably the most famous speech from Richard II, William Shakespeare’s 1590s history play about the fall of the Plantagenet king.
These words are spoken by the dying John of Gaunt, and the phrases he uses – from ‘this royal throne of kings’ and ‘this sceptre isle’ to ‘this other Eden’ and many others – have become known in the popular consciousness. Before we proceed to a short analysis of the meaning of John of Gaunt’s speech, here’s a reminder of what he says, in Act II Scene 1.