In sixteenth-century England writers of literature were frequently unsure exactly how to employ the flexible national category at their disposal. Often authors found themselves caught between two related but opposed desires. On the one hand, they sought to elevate the status of English literature so that it could rival the achievements of the classical world and those European nations which had imitated that heritage rather more successfully – Italy, France and, less often, Spain. On the other hand, they used ‘literature’ as either an adjunct or supplement to political representation, arguing the need for a critical public sphere where national problems could be debated. The consequence was that a celebratory nationalism was pitted against a specifically critical nationalism. In trying to perform the impossible balancing act this involved, authors often solved the problem by imagining two or more different – often overlapping – communities representing the nation at specific points within their narratives, collections of lyrics, dramas, etc. Even to writers immediately concerned with the need to bring the category of the nation into sharp focus, it remained a shadowy, barely visible wraith, all too often realised in the gaps, fissures and contradictions which constitute the margins of the texts.

The most frequently cited literary case of this problem of overlapping, conflicting and indeterminate national boundaries is the outburst by the Irish Captain Macmorris, serving in Henry V's army in France in Shakespeare's play of that name. In the scene before the battle of Harfleur, the four representatives of the British nations, Macmorris, Jamy, Llewellyn and Gower are left alone on stage, awaiting the start of battle.