"A Chess Game" by Thomas Middleton and Anglo-Spanish relations during the reign of James I

Abstract

King James I of England was a supporter of the peacemaking policy, which he decided to implement with the help of matrimonial ties. The king planned to marry his son Charles to the Spanish Infanta Maria. This marriage did not take place, but the very turn of the King of England to pro-Spanish politics was incomprehensible to many of his contemporaries and caused heated discussions in parliament, a reaction in pamphlet literature and drama. During this period, the theater became a tool for shaping public opinion and a center for promoting political ideas. One of the most successful playwrights of the time of James I was Thomas Middleton, whose play "The Game of Chess" became the subject of this study. The purpose of the article is to analyze the playwright's views on the Anglo-Spanish relations of the 1620s, which he expressed through satirical allegory. The play "A Game at Chess" is important for analyzing the role of the public theater in shaping public opinion on the political strategy of King James I at the beginning of the XVII century. Turning to the play as a source makes it possible to analyze the ideas of English intellectuals of that time about Spain and relations with it, and to identify the features of the reign of James I, expressed in an unusual form. In the course of studying this topic, it became clear that Prince Charles's personal trip to Madrid and rapprochement with Spain were justified in the eyes of the English people precisely through the public display of the play, and the King of England himself was presented as the main peacemaker, whom the power-hungry Spaniards tried to deceive. Middleton's ideas hostile to Spain were widely spread among the British, which speaks of the play not only as a way of forming the opinion of society, but also its reflection.