Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Sidney C. Burgoyne

Critical Essay by Sidney C. Burgoyne

SOURCE: Burgoyne, Sidney C. “Cardinal Pandulph and the ‘Curse of Rome.’” College Literature 4, no. 3 (fall 1977): 232-40.

In the following essay, Burgoyne stresses Cardinal Pandulph's role as villain and “chief mischief-maker” in King John.

Although holding a minority opinion, a surprising number of writers¹ have viewed Cardinal Pandulph, the papal legate, in a kindly light, and some have maintained that in comparison with the source-play² Shakespeare's King John shows a complete absence of anti-Catholic elements.³ A recent scholar offers a far more perceptive view of the Cardinal but then seems to miss his significance and stage value as the papal legate: “Pandulph is an evil genius—cocksure and skilled in having his own way—who happens to be a papal legate”; and concludes that he is a figure of some stature but only “for a few moments in the play.”⁴ But to say that he “happens to be a papal...
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