Curse, Interrupted: <i>Richard III</i>, Jacob and Esau, and the Elizabethan Succession Crisis

Abstract

A previously unexplored reference to the biblical story of Jacob and Esau in Shakespeare’s Richard III underlines connections to the early modern dramatic preoccupation with the question of succession in the late Elizabethan era.

Keywords

• Shakespeare
• <i>Richard III</i>
• Jacob
• Esau
• Bible
• Genesis
• Tudor
• Elizabeth I
• Early Modern
• succession