Edward III

Content Group

Overview

Increasingly this anonymous play is believed to be at least partly by Shakespeare. It certainly contains the last line from his Sonnet 94: "Lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds." The king's attempted seduction of the Countess of Salibury in the first two acts is generally felt to be Shakespearean in tone and style. Later, the father/son relationship of Edward III and the Black Prince anticipates effects in Henry IV's treatment of his son Prince Hal, and there is even a northern youth akin to Hotspur, who withholds his Scottish prisoners. The script may have dropped from visibility during the reign of the Scottish-born King James I because of its anti-Scottish tone. Editions of the play now appear in the Oxford, Cambridge, and Arden single-Shakespeare-play series. The Royal Shakespeare Company's 2002 production was well received.

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