Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time is a historical novel that looks at the belief that
Richard III, King of England, murdered his two nephews in order to maintain his power. This novel also
concerned with what he believes is a unknown fact of whether or not the long ago King of England
was guilty. Throughout his search for the answer Grant discovers many history books which all tend
to view Richard in different ways. It is from these different views of the same man, that one can draw
the conclusion that bias plays a major role in the validity and credibility of documents and personal
accounts. So what is the role and in what ways does the truth come out through time?
As historians we must look at what it is that we are reading. In saying this it means we must
read between the lines. And not just see the words but where they came from and what the writer is
trying to say. As was demonstrated in The Daughter of Time, the documents which Grant read all
differed in the way they viewed Richard III. This could have been because the writer’s attitudes
towards Richard were all different. For example, in the novel, Sir Thomas More’s and later accounts of
Richard III were derived from John Morton, Richard’s bitterest en enemy. Sir Thomas’s account was
from the view of someone who hated Richard and is therefor considered biased. As a historian it is
The Essay on Whats Happening Richard Schechner
Whats Happening Richard Schechner?: A Look at Schechners Ideas of the New Theatre Richard Schechner envisions a new theatre in three of his major essays, Happenings (1966), Six Axioms for Environmental Theatre (1968), and Negotiations with the Environment (1968). He does not spend time discussing his famed not not themselves ideology of the performer or ritual ecstasy; instead he discusses a new ...
important to realize that some facets of history are written with a biased opinion and it is our job to
realize which ones can be credited and which ones can’t.
Personal accounts and documents are often overlooked or considered unbelievable because
they cannot be considered valid due to the bias opinions of the writer. As historians many find this
discouraging because they have no account of what really happened and only have what can be read
from the writings of others. In the media bias plays a role in the validity of certain things. An example,
just one out of the many, where bias plays a role in the credibility of certain events is the Pocahontas
story. With out going into too much detail it is safe to say that the Disney version was very much
this legend was Matoaka. [visit http://www.powhatan.org/pocc.html to see what is being referred to]
If bias continues to effect how valid certain past documents are, the documents which help to base
our future, than what do we as historians have to go on?
When one takes The Daughter of Time and looks closely another name for daughter one may
come up with is truth. The truth is what eventually evolves after time. “The truth comes out through
Grant found evidence to support his belief that Richard the III was in fact innocent. It took many years
for someone to realize this but that is the role of time in this case. Grant used information from
books, which had been written over time, as a basis for his evidence to come to the conclusion that
Richard had no reason for killing the boys. Generally speaking the truth comes out through time in
everyday events as well. For instance when children go missing what happened to them eventually
reveals itself after a period of time. In murders and criminal cases the “˜who done it’ also takes time to
find.
the bias which certain accounts are written by are considered very entertaining and allow the reader
more insight on what it may have been like, as was seen in The Daughter of Time. But at the same time
others find it difficult to distinguish between what you can and can not believe. Bias has a very
negative effect on the truth. For example in everyday life when a poor child says “No, I did not steal it,
The Homework on Time and Truth
The unreal in English is used to talk about things in your imagination, but which are not true. The unreal is often used with if and wish. Present Unreal Conditional The present unreal talks about the present time, life today, right now, but imagining (or wishing) something that is untrue. In a wish sentence, or in an if-clause, you use the past tense to show that the verb is unreal about the ...
feel can have an effect on who you want to believe. This in turn hinders the truth from being told.
history has a way of repeating itself, and if one can truthfully recall exactly what happened in the past
than it may be safe to say you have and edge on the future.
The ways in which the truth can come out through time can be numerous and as historians it is
our job to recognize these ways and see to it that history perhaps be changed or altered so that
everyone is on the same page. It is also important that any written biased opinions from which
historians gather their information be looked at and studied carefully so the whole story may always
be told. Because people’s opinions are sometime’s shaped by biases it is important to try to see the
truth through these biases. And only when that can be done is when the truth will for surely be told.
