In the 1966 play, Lion in Winter, written by James Goldman, King Henry
and Queen Eleanor have a fascinating relationship. Their relationship consists of
dispute over which one of their three sons should be the next King. They despise
one another because of the evil deeds they have done to one another. Yet,
somehow they still love one another.
The quarrel over which son should be the next King is throughout the
entire play. Henry wants the youngest son, sixteen year old John, to become the
next King because he loves him more than his other sons. Eleanor wants
Richard to be the next King because she does not want Henry to have his way.
She even says, after Henry asked if she really cared who was King, "I care
because you care so much." She cannot choose John because Henry has picked
him, and she cannot choose the middle son, Geoffrey, because there is nothing
important or interesting about him. Eleanor has to choose Richard because he is
the only son whom she loves. The extent to which Eleanor will go to keep Henry
from having his way is shown by her promising to yield her territory, the
Aquitaine, to Henry if he lets Richard become King. By the end of the play a
King Henry and Queen Eleanor despise one another. One reason for
Eleanor's disdain of Henry is because of his past mistress, Rosamund. Eleanor
said, "Henry's bed is Henry's province: he can people it with sheep for all I care.
Which, on occasion, he has done." Henry's response was, "Still that? When
Rosamund's been dead for seven years?" Eleanor also despises Henry because
of his mistress Alais. Eleanor is jealous that she is no longer the principal woman
in Henry's life. Henry abhors Eleanor so much that he has locked her in a
dungeon for the past ten years so that he rarely has to s
...