Hard choices in king Charles III

What are the responsibilities of the King of the United Kingdom? What should go first in a royal family – the Crown or family ties? Can the King be weak in front of his children? Is it hard to be a member of a royal family? Honestly, it is difficult to give straightforward answers to all these questions at a time, but most likely, being a royal family is more complicated than being just an ordinary family. A brilliant play King Charles III written by one of the UK’s most exciting young writers Mike Bartlett reveals hard choices which the royal confronts.

The first scene gives us an insight of what’s happening to the British royal family members and their relationships during Elizabeth’s II funeral. All the family is quite polite and respectful to each other because they follow the dos and don'ts of polite manners.

The object of my interest is Charles. Confronting hard choices in the play he shows various emotions in the first scene. First, the sorrow of losing a parent is read in his words:

CHARLES.

And now they’re gone. That’s it. First Dad. Now Mum.

The only truth: I am alone [p. 11].

Another thing that is disturbing him at the moment is second thoughts about being the King since he feels trapped by his new position:

CHARLES.

In every second since my mother passed

I’m trapped by meetings, all these people ask

Me questions, talking, fussing, what to do… [p. 16].

However, after the conversation with the Prime Minister Charles finally displays confidence and readiness to keep a power scepter of the United Kingdom:

CHARLES.

But now I’ll rise to how things have to be

The Queen is dead, long live the King. That’s me [p. 19].

Going further we see the first and major encounter between Prime Minister Evans and Charles. Charles refuses to sign the law about restriction of freedom of press which further on led to the beginning of the mass disruption of public order. Is it really necessary for Charles to refuse the law or is it just a protest act against current state administration system? Maybe King Charles doesn’t want to share power with Parliament anymore? As a common reader, I see the King’s desire to prove that his words are worth something, rather than obey the existing rules in the United Kingdom. Charles seems to disagree with legitimate King’s obligations and what he is actually responsible for.

Moreover, Charles decides to stand up against the Parliament’s decision and do everything in his own way. Charles concludes the war against both Labour and Conservative party and dissolves the Parliament. He wants his opinion to be undeniable. To my mind he acts as a ruling figure who is losing control over the situation. He is unable to understand delusion of his mind, condition that outgrows in more of an obsessive compulsive disorder. He becomes obsessed by the idea of being useless and unheard.

Fire is burning and somebody should stop it. The author is focusing on William, the next heir to the throne after Charles, and William’s hesitancy. Though William doubts the King’s actions, he never disobeys, he says ‘I’ll never step across my father’s right’ [p. 69]. It’s Kate, his wife, who is always trying to make William talk to father to change his ideas about ruling the country. Kate is the person in this play who really worries about who will ascend to the throne. She feels that her actual status makes her responsible and her influence on William is the key to win the Crown. She has ambition not only for her husband, but also for herself.

KATE.

<…> But if I must put up with taunts, and make

So public everything I am, than I

Demand things for myself, I ask no less

Than power to achieve my will in fair

Exchange for total service to the State.

Yes this is what, enthroned, that I will do.

Not simply help my husband in his crown

But wear one of my own [p. 92].

The author gradually prepares William for dealing with tough situation with the King. Finally, William decides to perform his own speech during the press conference. William made his hard choice in favour of the Crown. He gets a mass support of most people, even children:

WILLIAM.

There was no tank, or military might.

And just two guards stood to attention there.

Beat.

And as the gates began to close, one girl

Called out ‘You tell him Will’ and so I must [p. 110].

There is no turning back for William, so he finally puts Charles in a stalemate and leaves him no choice by giving an ultimatum:

CHARLES.

And if I don’t?

WILLIAM.

Then we will leave, and wait, and not return

Yes, us, and Kate, the children. Family all.

In fear of losing a family Charles retreats.

CHARLES.

I will not see my sons? My grandchildren too?

Pause.

I cannot live alone [p. 115].

At first, Charles is depressed and cannot understand how to live without the Crown, but in a while we can see that he really loves his family and forgives them their actions. Only for this I can say that I respect Charles because not everyone can have dignity and step back. Charles made his hard choice and it is his family.

Anna Senchuk, 2nd year student©

Perm State University ,

Confession and Subjectivity in Black Swan Green

Confession can be defined as an act of articulating the truth while encountering obstacles to the formulation and expression of truth and having to surmount these difficulties. It is, however, up for debate what kind of truth is produced through such an action and whether it accurately reflects reality. In Foucauldian terms the truth of a confession is not prepositional, the type that is most often associated with the general notion of truth – a speech that refers to the reality in such a way that can be proven right, truthfully reflecting the world. What is expressed in an act of confession is rather an experiential truth revealing the intimate emotional reality of inner life.

Confession permeates our culture, as we can witness it taking various forms starting from poetry that deals with personal feelings and experiences and continuing on to such explicitly modern phenomena as reality and talk shows. The position held by confessional discourse in our culture has often been described as compulsory, an urge to confess induced by the relations of power. What is notable in this mechanism is how pleasurable such discourse can be to one participating in it. There is a certain exhibitionist allure in making a confession, a thrill of exposure as well as the benefit of speaking that which is repressed, a feeling of being transgressive and progressive, of achieving something important by overcoming repression.

Confessional writing, especially in terms of an autobiography, is something taking root in the romantic shift from the religious