Biblical Prophecy and Political Counsel in Shakespeare’s Richard II and Shakespeare and Fletcher’s Henry VIII (All Is True)

This essay explores the connections between biblical prophecy and political counsel in two history plays, Shakespeare's Richard II and Shakespeare and John Fletcher's Henry VIII (All Is True). It argues that Shakespeare and Fletcher occasionally turn to prophetic style generally, and the style of the prophet Isaiah particularly, when composing a specific set of speech acts for characters engaged in political counsel: admonitions, reprehensions, and consolations. I also argue that Shakespeare and Fletcher adapt Isaian style to new dramatic contexts to highlight how biblical prophecy can lead to dubious and abusive forms of counsel when practiced by counselors in historically bound, politically determined situations. As the essay shows, Shakespeare and Fletcher's Isaian imitations reflect their fascination with contemporary conceptions of Isaiah as a divinely inspired and exceptionally eloquent court counselor, but the same Isaian imitations reveal Shakespeare and Fletcher's skeptical view of biblical prophecy as an effective and trustworthy form of counsel, and the biblical prophet as an ideal model for ecclesiastical counselors, particularly in the perilous world of English royal politics. [D.K.]