Look about You as a History Play

The Elizabethan play Look About You has until now been regarded, along with many other minor Elizabethan plays, as a fictional historical romance, not as a "history play" in the sense that, for example, Richard II is: a drama based on definitely historical material and containing, for purposes of political didacticism and the arousal of patriotic feeling, parallels between its subject matter and contemporary Elizabethan politics. A study of the sources of Look About You reveals, however, that the play is based, both generally and in some details, on chronicle history (largely of the reign of Henry II), and also is concerned with political parallels and didacticism, dealing in general with the problems of the succession, rebellion, and royal favoritism, and in particular with factionalism at the court of Elizabeth I and with the queen's relationship with the Earl of Essex. Thus, although its main plot centers on fictional multiple-disguise, Look About You is a true history play in every sense of the term. Perhaps the minor Elizabethan drama in general may be much more truly "historical" than has hitherto been supposed.