‘I Am the King Himself’: Lear, Seneca and the New Augustus

Abstract

Abstract This article revisits the kingship of James VI of Scotland and I of England. It argues that there were two defining features of this kingship, its style and its reach. The first is the nature of its absolutism, which drew heavily upon the writings of the Roman public philosopher Seneca. The second is the aspiring imperialism. James cherished the idea of a formal ‘union’ of his crowns, again deriving inspiration from classical Rome. The first part of this article analyses the constitutional theory of James Stuart, as articulated in his writings and those of contemporaries. The second part then conjectures that Shakespeare’s King Lear, first performed in 1606, can be read as a critical, but ultimately approving, commentary on both aspirations, the absolutist and the imperialist.1