Maintaining Royal Absolutism in Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess

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At the time when Thomas Middleton was composing A Game at Chess, King James I's reliance upon Count Gondomar, the former Spanish Ambassador, made clear that the King had envisioned arranging a Catholic marriage for his heir and securing the restitution of the Palatine through the Spanish advice. But James's inability to recognize that his policy had become a real threat to the commonweal prompted his Parliament to make war against Spain. Despite conternporaries' perception of it as a political satire reflecting the course of the last years of James's reign, why did the Master of Revels, Sir Henry Herbert, Iicense A Game at Chess and actors to perform it? Critics' explanations are based upon the political circumstances of the early 1620s, not upon the textual evidence of A Game at Chess. The play seems to have had such merit that the King could allow it to be reenacted on the thirteenth day after his prohibition. The play is ultimately more than a political satire, because it goes far toward the support of James's absolutism, which was eroded by Spain. When he was writing his play, Middleton contrived to show James the best way to defend his kingdom from the Spanish threat, by exposing the crisis resulting from James's volte-face upon Catholic policy while maintaining his absolutism. In doing so, it is the White Knight and Duke that wipe out the Black's influence with their King, despite the critics' suggestion that they conclude the Spanish match. The playwright's idealization of monarchical authority would serve James's interests in emphasizing his kingship when he was confronted with dissenting voices against his Spanish policy.
2004-01-31

Maintaining Royal Absolutism in Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess

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