located bodies – five
the sovereign body
Slide 2
Slide 3
feudal monarchy and after
land, earth, rank and identity
Bolingbroke as Hereford and Lancaster

lineage and succession
hereditary rights

the absolute monarch
divine right, anointment, by grace of God (3.2.50-51)

the king’s two bodies
majesty embodied
coronation – crown and king
the body of England
the king’s own body
NB also the many body metaphors

challenges to the absolute monarch
the English revolution (17th century) and after
republicanism – the res publica
the commons and the commonwealth

the issue of representation
a question of political philosophy and more
who is speaking when the political representative speaks?
what is the relation of language to action?
is it not merely ceremonial in Richard II?
representation and language
representation and the symbol (2.4.21 and the Welsh captain)

the sovereign body
what is its location?
the body politic – the prince, the representative, the commons