SOURCE: "Dramatic Perspective in King John," in English Studies in Canada, Vol. III, No. 1, Spring, 1977, pp. 1-17.

In the following essay, Leggatt analyzes the shifting viewpoints of the characters in King John and how they affect our ultimate understanding of the play—focusing primarily on the Bastard's shift from satirist to patriot.

One of Shakespeare's favourite devices is the use of a commentator to provide a special perspective on the main action. When Falstaff discourses on honour, or Thersites on "wars and lechery," or when Enobarbus advises the Triumvirate "if you borrow one another's love for the instant, you may, when you hear no more words of Pompey, return it again"—we are aware of a special angle of vision, different from that of the main participants. Generally, the commentator is detached and refreshingly blunt. He dissects the passions and pretensions of the main figures from a commonsense...