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TeresaBałuk-Ulewiczowa
meMirrorofPrincesandtheDistortingMirror
inShakespeare’sChroniclePlays
ItisnonoveltytodiscernapatterninShakespeare)schronicleplaysofa“mir-
rorforkings,reflectingtheuniversalconsequencesofbadorweakrule,”as
HaroldJenkinsremindeduswelloverhalfacenturyago(Jenkins1953:1),
tracingtheobservationbacktotheGermanRomanticcriticandtranslatorof
Shakespeare,AugustWilhelmvonSchlegel,inVorlesungenüberdramatische
KunstundLiteratur(1808;Englishtranslation1833:342-3,350-1).Sincethat
timeithasbeenplatitudinousforonegroupofShakespeareeditorsandcrit-
icstowriteofthecharacterofHenryVas“themirrorofallChristiankings”
(Shakespeare,edlWalter1979:xxvi)or“theidealmonarch”;whileacounter-
tendency,apparentlysinceHazlitt)stimes,hasseenHenryas“acynicalhypo-
crite,acold-bloodedMachiavellian,abrutalbutcher”(cflRichardLevin1984:
134-41);whereasConalCondren(2009:197-206)appliedaknowledgeof
EarlyModernpoliticalideastodismissthe“Machiavellianmilitarist”inter-
pretationasunhistoricall
“TemirrorofallChristiankings”hasalltooofenbeentreatedasacon-
venientlabelanditmightbeworthwhiletolookbackintotheprovenanceof
thetermanditsplaceinElizabethanpubliclifel
Tenotionofthemirror(Latinspeculum,Italianlospecchio,Frenchlemi-
roir)hadawidespreadmetaphoricalapplicationinanancientconventionof
politicaldiscourseotherwiseknownasderegimineprincipumoralternatively
deinstitutioneprincipum,andoccasionallyasthespeculumprincipis-themir-
roroftheperfectprincelTerootsofthecustomgobackintothedepthsof
antiquity-thehistoryofthespeculumprincipisusuallystartswiththeepistle
ofIsocratestoKingNicocles(cal376BC)andtherearealsobiblicalanteced-
ents-butperhapsthepracticewasalreadytimewornandtraditionalbefore
Isocrates(Bałuk-Ulewiczowa2009:25)lItconsistedofadviceaddressedto