This article explores the ways in which Shakespeare probes the nature of national identity in King John and The Merry Wives of Windsor, two plays that display revealingly different approaches to ‘England’. King John, a history play, examines the idea of England as a realm (a kingdom). The Merry Wives of Windsor, a comedy, considers it as a community of people who are bound by coresidence and language. The Englishness of both has also been singled out by critics and practitioners, often at moments of national stress (King John) or celebration (Merry Wives). The article ends with an afterword...

This article explores the ways in which Shakespeare probes the nature of national identity in King John and The Merry Wives of Windsor, two plays that display revealingly different approaches to ‘England’. King John, a history play, examines the idea of England as a realm (a kingdom). The Merry Wives of Windsor, a comedy, considers it as a community of people who are bound by coresidence and language. The Englishness of both has also been singled out by critics and practitioners, often at moments of national stress (King John) or celebration (Merry Wives). The article ends with an afterword on Cymbeline and the way in which this Jacobean play engages with notions of Britain when the Union of the crowns under James I and VI in 1603 had brought into focus a new form of national identity.