Want of logic and defiance of ethical
principle underlie their pride in magnificent ceremonial and
pageantry. The ironic contrast between the pretensions of a king and
the actual limits of human destiny is a text which Shakespeare
repeatedly clothes in golden language.
It is to be admitted that nearly all the kings in Shakespeare's
gallery frankly acknowledge the make-believe and unreality which dogs
regal pomp and ceremony. In self-communion they acknowledge the
ruler's difficulty in finding truth in their traditional scope of
life. In a great outburst on the night before Agincourt, Henry V.--the
only king whom Shakespeare seems thoroughly to admire--openly
describes the inevitable confusion between fact and fiction which
infects the conditions of royalty. Anxiety and unhappiness are so
entwined with ceremonial display as to deprive the king of the reliefs
and recreations which freely lie at the disposal of ordinary men.
What infinite heart's-ease
Must kings neglect that private men enjoy!
And what have kings that privates have not too,
Save ceremony, save general ceremony?
And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?
What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more
Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers?
What are thy rents? what are thy comings-in?
O ceremony, show me but thy worth!
What is thy soul of adoration?
Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form,
Creating awe and fear in other men?
Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd
Than they in fearing.
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