Richard II
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Richard IIThe Tragedy of King Richard the Second is a play written by William Shakespeare around 1595 and based on the life of King Richard II of England. It is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's successors: Henry IV, part 1, Henry IV, part 2, and Henry V, and may not have been written as a stand-alone work. Although the First Folio (1623) edition of Shakespeare's works lists the play as a history play, the earlier Quarto edition of 1597 calls itself The tragedie of King Richard the second. Text and SourcesRichard II exists in a number of variations, attesting to the controversy it aroused. The quartos vary to some degree from one another, and the folio presents further differences. The first three quartos (printed in 1597 and 1598, commonly assumed to have been prepared from Shakespeare's holograph) lack the deposition scene. The fourth quarto, published in 1608, includes a version of the deposition scene shorter than the one later printed, presumably from a prompt-book, in the 1623 First Folio. The scanty evidence makes explaining these differences largely conjectural. Traditionally, it has been supposed that the quartos lack the deposition scene because of censorship, either from the playhouse or by the Master of the Revels Edmund Tylney and that the Folio version may better reflect Shakespeare's original intentions. There is no external evidence for this hypothesis, however, and the title page of the 1608 quarto refers to a "lately acted" deposition scene. Shakespeare's primary source for Richard II, as for most of his chronicle histories, was Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles; the publication of the second edition in 1587 provides a terminus ad quo for the play. Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Illustrious Families of Lancaster and York appears also to have been consulted, and scholars have also supposed Shakespeare familiar with Samuel Daniel's poem on the civil wars. A somewhat more complicated case is presented by the anonymous play The First Part of Richard II. This play, which exists in one incomplete manuscript copy (at the British Museum) is subtitled Thomas of Woodstock, and it is by this name that scholars since F. S. Boas have usually called it. This play treats the events leading up to the start of Shakespeare's play (though the two texts do not have identical characters). This closeness, along with the anonymity of the manuscript, has led certain scholars to attribute all or part of the play to Shakespeare; currently, though, most critics view this play as a secondary influence on Shakespeare, and not as his work. Historical contextThe play was performed and published late in the reign of the childless Elizabeth I of England, at a time when the queen's age made the succession an important political concern. The historical parallels in the succession of Richard II may have been intended as political comment on the contemporary situation, with the weak Richard II analogous to Queen Elizabeth and an implicit argument in favour of her replacement by a monarch capable of creating a stable dynasty. That the history surrounding the descent from Edward III was viewed as politically explosive is evidenced by the treason trial of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex in 1600. Among the evidence presented at this trial was John Hayward's history of Henry IV, which was dedicated to Essex, whom the crown may have suspected of commissioning the work. Hayward was committed to prison, and he was examined again in January 1601, just before Essex led a failed rebellion against Elizabeth. Shakespeare's play appears to have played a minor role in the events surrounding the final downfall of Essex. On the Thursday or Friday before the uprising (February 5th or 6th), supporters of the Earl of Essex, among them Charles and Joclyn Percy (younger brothers of the Earl of Northumberland), paid for a performance of the play at the Globe Theatre on the eve of their armed rebellion. By this agreement, reported at the trial of Essex by the Chamberlain's Men actor Augustine Phillips, the conspirators paid the company forty shillings to stage this play, which the players felt was too old and "out of use" to attract a large audience. Eleven of Essex's supporters attended the Saturday performance. Elizabeth was aware of the political ramifications of the story of Richard II, according to a well-known but dubious anecdote in which she asks William Lambarde, "I am Richard II, know ye not that?" In the same document, the Queen is reported as having complained that the play was performed forty times in "open streets and houses"; there is no extant evidence to corroborate this claim. At any rate, the Chamberlain's Men do not appear to have suffered at all for their association with the Essex group; they performed for the Queen on Shrove Tuesday in 1601, the day before Essex's execution. SynopsisAs the title suggests, Richard II is the main character of the play. The first Act begins with King Richard sitting majestically on his throne in full state. We learn that Henry Bolingbroke, Richard's cousin, is having a dispute with Thomas Mowbray, and they both want the king to act as judge. The subject of the quarrel is Bolingbroke's accusation that Mowbray killed Richard's uncle the Duke of Gloucester. What is more, Mowbray is also accused of having stolen money which would have been used for military purposes. Richard cannot pass judgement because it is later revealed that he ordered Mowbray to kill the Duke of Gloucester. Bolingbroke and Mowbray challenge each other to a duel, over the objections of both Richard and Bolingbroke's father, John of Gaunt. The tournament scene is very formal with a long, ceremonial introduction. But Richard interrupts the duel at the very beginning and sentences both men to banishment from England. Bolingbroke has to leave for six years, whereas Mowbray is banished forever. The king's decision can be seen as the first mistake in a series that will lead eventually to his usurpation and death. Indeed, Mowbray predicts that the king will fall sooner or later. After that, Bolingbroke's father, John of Gaunt, dies and Richard II seizes all of his land and money. This angers the nobility, who accuse Richard of wasting England's money, of taking Gaunt's money to fund a war with Ireland, of taxing the commoners, and of fining the nobles for crimes their ancestors committed. Next, they help Bolingbroke secretly to return to England and plan to usurp Richard II. However, there remain some subjects faithful to Richard, among them Bushy, Bagot, Green and the Duke of Aumerle. King Richard leaves England to administer the war in Ireland, and Bolingbroke takes the opportunity to assemble an army and invade the north coast of England. When Richard returns, Bolingbroke first claims his land back but then additionally claims the throne. He crowns himself King Henry IV and Richard is taken into prison to the castle of Pomfret. After interpreting King Henry's "living fear" as a reference to the still-living Richard, an ambitious nobleman goes to the prison and murders the former king. King Henry hypocritically repudiates the murderer and vows to journey to Jerusalem to cleanse himself of his part in Richard's death. Structure and languageShakespeare used a fall and rise structure in the plot. At the beginning, Richard is in power and therefore can banish Bolingbroke from England. As Richard II falls and dies, Bolingbroke rises to become king of England. Unusually for Shakespeare, Richard II is written entirely in verse. The play contains a number of memorable metaphors, including the extended comparison of England with a garden in Act IV, and of its reigning king to a lion or to the sun. Dramatis personae
Famous Lines This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, —John of Gaunt, II,i,42-54 Of comfort no man speak: —King Richard, III,ii, 148-164 Information provided by Wikipedia |