King John

Name: King John
Author: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

free · 21,832 words · ~1 h read · first published 1623

text from Standard Ebooks

scroll plz ↓continue ↓

(start over)

Dramatis Personae

King John
Prince Henry, son to the king
Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, nephew to the king
The Earl of Pembroke
The Earl of Essex
The Earl of Salisbury
The Lord Bigot
Hubert de Burgh
Robert Faulconbridge, to Sir Robert Faulconbridge
Philip the Bastard, his half-brother
James Gurney, servant to Lady Faulconbridge
Peter of Pomfret, a prophet
Philip, King of France
Lewis, the Dauphin
Lymoges, Duke of Austria
Cardinal Pandulph, the Pope’s legate
Melun, a French Lord
Chatillon, ambassador from France to King John
Queen Elinor, mother to King John
Constance, mother to Arthur
Blanch of Spain, niece to King John
Lady Faulconbridge
Lords, citizens of Angiers, sheriff, heralds, officers, soldiers, messengers, and other attendants

Scene: Partly in England, and partly in France.

Act I

restoring your place…

fetching the rest…

More by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
You get a play that keeps changing its mind about love, from the quarrelling lovers in the forest to Bottom blundering through his amateur performance. The language is playful and slippery, and Puck gives the whole thing a mischievous sense that human beings are never quite in control.
All’s Well That Ends Well
Helena chases a man who plainly doesn't deserve her, and the play knows it, which is what makes it interesting. If you like your comedies uneasy, with a bed trick and an ending that only half convinces, this one will stick with you.
Antony and Cleopatra
These two aren't young lovers, they're middle-aged, vain, magnificent messes who keep wrecking empires over each other, and you half want to shake them. Stay for Enobarbus, the dry-eyed friend whose barge speech about Cleopatra is worth the whole play.

Dramatis Personae

King John

Prince Henry, son to the king

Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, nephew to the king

The Earl of Pembroke

The Earl of Essex

The Earl of Salisbury

The Lord Bigot

Hubert de Burgh

Robert Faulconbridge, to Sir Robert Faulconbridge

Philip the Bastard, his half-brother

James Gurney, servant to Lady Faulconbridge

Peter of Pomfret, a prophet

Philip, King of France

Lewis, the Dauphin

Lymoges, Duke of Austria

Cardinal Pandulph, the Pope’s legate

Melun, a French Lord

Chatillon, ambassador from France to King John

Queen Elinor, mother to King John

Constance, mother to Arthur

Blanch of Spain, niece to King John

Lady Faulconbridge

Lords, citizens of Angiers, sheriff, heralds, officers, soldiers, messengers, and other attendants

Scene: Partly in England, and partly in France.

More by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

You get a play that keeps changing its mind about love, from the quarrelling lovers in the forest to Bottom blundering through his amateur performance. The language is playful and slippery, and Puck gives the whole thing a mischievous sense that human beings are never quite in control.

All’s Well That Ends Well

Helena chases a man who plainly doesn't deserve her, and the play knows it, which is what makes it interesting. If you like your comedies uneasy, with a bed trick and an ending that only half convinces, this one will stick with you.

Antony and Cleopatra

These two aren't young lovers, they're middle-aged, vain, magnificent messes who keep wrecking empires over each other, and you half want to shake them. Stay for Enobarbus, the dry-eyed friend whose barge speech about Cleopatra is worth the whole play.