The Tragedy of King Richard II Essay , writing homework help

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1. Examine Richard's final speeches as he awaits death. What do these speeches reveal about Richard the man and Richard the king?

2.COMPLETE 1: (60 pts) The Tragedy of King Richard II Essay (2 pages)

In Richard II, we meet one of several prophetic speeches in the play, In Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 31-68 on pages 340-41, there is a highly significant speech by John of Gaunt about England as a location, which he describes as a garden.

Write a two-page (5 paragraph) essay that analyzes and comments on Gaunt's description of England as a garden AND that discusses at least 2 other passages in the play that specifically relate to the concept of gardens and nature. Finally, conclude your paper with a discussion of what Shakespeare is trying to convey through his use of imagery.

Submit your paper to the Unit 2 Drop Box with the document name: Richard II.

Suggested Organizational Structure of the Essay

Include an introductory paragraph that introduces the play (in a 2-3 sentences). Provide background and context for Gaunt's speech in Act 2, Scene 2. Write a strong, clear thesis (last sentence of the introduction paragraph) that relates to the prompt (John of Gaunt describing England as a garden, the concept of gardens throughout the play, and Shakespeare's use of imagery).

Body Paragraphs-

1 well-developed paragraph - analyzing this particular speech and John of Gaunt's description of England as a garden. Incorporate direct quotes/lines from the play to support your point (with parenthetical in-text citations that include the act, the scene, and the line numbers).

2 well-developed paragraphs that relate this speech to AT LEAST TWO other passages (one per paragraph) in the play that relate to gardens or use vivid imagery related to nature. Incorporate direct quotes/lines from the play to support your point (with parenthetical in-text citations that include the act, the scene, and the line numbers).

Conclusion paragraph - should summarize what was said in the paper and should restate your thesis statement (your own ideas in your own words) about Shakespeare's use of imagery. In your mind, what is he trying to convey to the reader by using this type of imagery throughout the play? How does it affect you as a reader? Incorporate direct quotes/lines from the play to support your ideas (with parenthetical in-text citations that include the act, the scene, and the line numbers).

REQUIREMENTS AND DOCUMENTATION: The paper should be 5 paragraphs (two-pages), double-spaced, one inch margins on all four sides of the page. It should include a heading with the student's name, date, and unit on the top right corner of each page. The title should be centered on the first page. Double-space the document, use 12-point Times Roman font, and indent all paragraphs.

To provide support from the play, be sure to cite lines from the play as direct quotes (include in-text citations with Act, Scene, and Line). Include a Reference page with the play listed as a part of the textbook. The paper should be written in the third person point of view (avoid the use of the first and second person in all formal writing assignments for this course).

REMINDER: Do NOT cite outside websites or sources- this is a REFELCTION paper and should be written in your own words. Be sure to make reference to particular scenes and cite particular lines from the play. When you do so (even if you are only referring to our textbook), you must cite them using APA in-text citations and a reference page at the end.

3. COMPLETE 2: Final Research Paper Topic Proposal (15 pts):

For this assignment, you will review the final research paper topics, expectations, and grading rubric (See Week/Unit 5 instructions and handouts in Course Materials). During this week, you will choose your topic for the final paper and write a ½-page topic proposal for your instructor's approval.

Submit your paper to the Unit 2 Drop Box with the document name: Final Research Paper Topic Proposal.

PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS: Please write a ½-page, double spaced, topic proposal that includes the following:

- the topic choice selection (from the choices provided in Unit 5’s Complete section) and discussion of why you chose that particular topic and why that topic interests you.

- how you have already researched this topic for your rough draft (what databases in the Bethel Library did you use? What were your search terms, etc.).

(NOTE- WEBSITES MAY NOT BE USED FOR THIS PAPER- YOUR SOURCES MUST BE ACADEMIC SOURCES FROM THE LIBRARY ELECTRONIC DATABASES).

Possible Topic Choices:

  • A father/daughter relationship in one Shakespeare play
  • A father/son or mother/son relationship in one Shakespeare play
  • The role of magic in A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • The making of a good leader in one Shakespearean play
  • The failure of leadership in one Shakespearean play
  • The roles that a particular character serves in a play (e.g., Kent, Bottom, Puck, etc.)
  • The treatment of women in one or two plays (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II vs. Othello)
  • A character study on ONE character (Othello, King Lear, Edmund, Hermia, Helena, Richard II, Henry Bolingbroke, Miranda, Prospero)
  • Importance of setting to meaning (A Midsummer Night's Dream; Othello)

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The Tragedy of King Richard the Second ‫ﱸﱷﱶ‬ R ichard II (c. 1595–1596) is the first play in Shakespeare’s great four-play historical saga, or tetralogy, that continues with the two parts of Henry IV (c. 1596–1598) and concludes with Henry V (1599). In this, his second, tetralogy, Shakespeare dramatizes the beginnings of the great conflict called the Wars of the Roses, having already dramatized the conclusion of that civil war in his earlier tetralogy on Henry VI and Richard III (c. 1589–1594). Both sequences move from an outbreak of civil faction to the eventual triumph of political stability. Together, they comprise the story of England’s long century of political turmoil from the 1390s until Henry Tudor’s victory over Richard III in 1485. Yet Shakespeare chose to tell the two halves of this chronicle in reverse order. His culminating statement about kingship in Henry V focuses on the earlier historical period, on the education and kingly success of Prince Hal. With Richard II, then, Shakespeare turns to the events that had launched England’s century of crisis. These events were still fresh and relevant to Elizabethan minds. Richard and Bolingbroke’s contest for the English crown provided a sobering example of political wrongdoing and, at least by implication, a rule for political right conduct. One prominent reason for studying history, to an Elizabethan, was to avoid the errors of the past. The relevance of such historical analogy was, in fact, vividly underscored some six years after Shakespeare wrote the play: in 1601, followers of the Earl of Essex commissioned Shakespeare’s acting company to perform a revived play about Richard II on the eve of what was to be an abortive rebellion, perhaps with the intention of inciting a riot. Whether the play was Shakespeare’s is not certain, but it seems likely. The acting company was ultimately exonerated, but not before Queen Elizabeth concluded that she was being compared to Richard II. When he wrote the play, Shakespeare presumably did not know that it would be used for such a purpose, but he must have known that the overthrow of Richard II was, in any case, S M I a controversial subject because of its potential use as a Tprecedent for rebellion. The scene of Richard’s deposition was considered so provocative by Elizabeth’s govH(4.1) ernment that it was censored in the printed quartos of , Shakespeare’s play during the Queen’s lifetime. In view of the startling relevance of this piece of history to Shakespeare’s own times, then, what are the and wrongs of Richard’s deposition, and to what Jrights extent can political lessons be drawn from ShakeOspeare’s presentation? To begin with, we should not underestimate Richard’s Sattractive qualities, as a man and even as a king. ThroughHout the play, Richard is consistently more impressive and majestic in appearance than his rival, Bolingbroke. URichard fascinates us with his verbal sensitivity, his poetic and his dramatic self-consciousness. He eloAinsight, quently expounds a sacramental view of kingship, according to which “Not all the water in the rough rude / Can wash the balm off from an anointed king” 6sea (3.2.54–5). Bolingbroke can depose Richard but can never 8capture the aura of majesty Richard possesses; Bolingbroke may succeed politically but only at the expense of 9desecrating an idea. Richard is much more interesting to 0us as a man than Bolingbroke, more capable of grief, more tender in his personal relationships, and more in need of Bbeing understood. Indeed, a major factor in Richard’s is the conflict between his public role (wherein Utragedy he sees himself as divinely appointed, almost superhuman) and his private role (wherein he is emotionally dependent and easily hurt). He confuses what the medieval and Renaissance world knew as the king’s “two bodies,” the sacramental body of kingship, which is eternal, and the human body of a single occupant of the throne, whose frail mortal condition is subject to time and fortune. Richard’s failure to perceive and to act wisely on this difference is part of his tragic predicament, but his increasing insight, through suffering, into the truth of the distinction is also part of his spiritual growth. His 326 The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND dilemma, however poignantly individual, lies at the heart of kingship. Richard is thus very much a king. Although he sometimes indulges in childish sentimentality, at his best he is superbly refined, perceptive, and poetic. These qualities notwithstanding, Richard is an incompetent ruler, compared with the man who supplants him. Richard himself confesses to the prodigal expense of “too great a court.” In order to raise funds, he has been obliged to “farm our royal realm”; that is, to sell for ready cash the right of collecting taxes to individual courtiers, who are then free to extort what the market will bear (1.4.43–5). Similarly, Richard proposes to issue “blank charters” (line 48) to his minions, who will then be authorized to fill in the amount of tax to be paid by any hapless subject. These abuses were infamous to Elizabethan audiences as symbols of autocratic misgovernment. No less heinous is Richard’s seizure of the dukedom of Lancaster from his cousin Bolingbroke. Although Richard does receive the consent of his Council to banish Bolingbroke because of the divisiveness of the quarrel between him and Mowbray, the King violates the very idea of inheritance of property when he takes away Bolingbroke’s title and lands. And, as his uncle the Duke of York remonstrates, Richard’s own right to the throne depends on that idea of due inheritance. By offending against the most sacred concepts of order and degree, he teaches others to rebel. Richard’s behavior even prior to the commencement of the play arouses suspicion. The nature of his complicity in the death of his uncle Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, is perhaps never entirely clear, and Gloucester may have given provocation. Indeed, one can sympathize with the predicament of a young ruler prematurely thrust into the center of power by the untimely death of his father, the crown prince, now having to cope with an array of worldly-wise, advice-giving uncles. Nevertheless, Richard is unambiguously guilty of murder in the eyes of Gloucester’s widow, while her brother-in-law John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, assumes that Richard has caused Gloucester’s death, “the which if wrongfully / Let heaven revenge” (1.2.39– 40). Apparently, too, Gaunt’s son Bolingbroke believes Richard to be a murderer, and he brings accusation against Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, partly as a means of embarrassing the King, whom he cannot accuse directly. Mowbray’s lot is an unenviable one: he was in command at Calais when Gloucester was executed there, and he hints that Richard ordered the execution (even though Mowbray alleges that he himself did not carry out the order). For his part, Richard is only too glad to banish the man suspected of having been his agent in murder. Mowbray is a convenient scapegoat. The polished, ceremonial tone of the play’s opening is vitiated, then, by our growing awareness of hidden violence and factionalism going on behind the scene. Our first impression of Richard is of a king devoted to the S M I T H , J O S H U A 6 8 9 0 B U public display of conciliatory even-handedness. He listens to the rival claims of Bolingbroke and Mowbray, and, when he cannot reconcile them peacefully, he orders a trial by combat. This trial (1.3) is replete with ceremonial repetition and ritual. The combatants are duly sworn in the justice of their cause, and God is to decide the quarrel by awarding victory to the champion who speaks the truth. Richard, the presiding officer, assumes the role of God’s anointed deputy on earth. Yet it becomes evident in due course that Richard is a major perpetrator of injustice rather than an impartial judge, that Bolingbroke is after greater objectives than he acknowledges even to himself, and that Richard’s refusal to let the trial by combat take place and his banishment of the two contenders are his desperate ways of burying a problem he cannot deal with forthrightly. His uncles reluctantly consent to the banishment only because they, too, see that disaffection has reached alarming proportions. Bolingbroke’s motivation in these opening scenes is perhaps even more obscure than Richard’s. Our first impression of Bolingbroke is of forthrightness, moral indignation, and patriotic zeal. In fact, we never really question the earnestness of his outrage at Richard’s misgovernance, his longing to avenge a family murder (for Gloucester was his uncle, too), or his bitter disappointment at being banished. Yet we are prompted to ask further: what is the essential cause of the enmity between Bolingbroke and Richard? If Mowbray is only a stalkinghorse, is not Gloucester’s death also the excuse for pursuing a preexistent animosity? Richard, for one, appears to think so. His portrayal of Bolingbroke as a scheming politician, who curries favor with the populace in order to build a widely based alliance against the King himself, is telling and prophetic. Bolingbroke, says Richard, acts “As were our England in reversion his, / And he our subjects’ next degree in hope” (1.4.35–6). This unflattering appraisal might be ascribed to malicious envy on Richard’s part, were it not proved by subsequent events to be wholly accurate. Paradoxically, Richard is far the more prescient of the two contenders for the English throne. It is he, in fact, who perceives from the start that the conflict between them is irreconcilable. He banishes Bolingbroke as his chief rival and does not doubt what motives will call Bolingbroke home again. Meanwhile, Bolingbroke disclaims any motive for his return other than love of country and hatred of injustice. Although born with a political canniness that Richard lacks, Bolingbroke does not reflect (out loud, at least) upon the consequences of his own acts. As a man of action, he lives in the present. Richard, conversely, a person of exquisite contemplative powers and poetic imagination, does not deign to cope with the practical. He both envies and despises Bolingbroke’s easy way with the commoners. Richard cherishes kingship for the majesty and the royal prerogative it confers, not for the The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 327 328 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND power to govern wisely. Thus it is that, despite his perception of what will follow, Richard habitually indulges his worst instincts, buying a moment of giddy pleasure at the expense of future disaster. Granted Richard’s incompetence as a ruler, is Bolingbroke justified in armed rebellion against him? According to Bolingbroke’s uncle, the Duke of York (who later, to be sure, shifts his allegiance), and to the Bishop of Carlisle, Bolingbroke is not justified in the rebellion. The attitude of these men can be summed up by the phrase “passive obedience.” And, although Bolingbroke’s own father, John of Gaunt, dies before his son returns to England to seize power, Gaunt, too, is opposed to such human defiances of the sacred institution of kingship. “God’s is the quarrel,” he insists (1.2.37). Because Richard is God’s anointed deputy on earth, as Gaunt sees the matter, only God may punish the King’s wrongdoing. Gaunt may not question Richard’s guilt, but neither does he question God’s ability to avenge. Gaunt sees human intervention in God’s affair as blasphemous: “for I may never lift / An angry arm against His minister” (1.2.40–1). To be sure, Gaunt does acknowledge a solemn duty to offer frank advice to extremists of both sides, and he does so unsparingly. He consents to the banishment of his son, and he rebukes Richard with his dying breath. This doctrine of passive obedience was familiar to Elizabethans, for they heard it in church periodically in official homilies against rebellion. It was the Tudor state’s answer to those who asserted a right to overthrow reputedly evil kings. The argument was logically ingenious. Why are evil rulers permitted to govern from time to time? Presumably, because God wishes to test a people or to punish them for waywardness. Any king performing such chastisement is a divine scourge. Accordingly, the worst thing a people can do is to rebel against God’s scourge, thereby manifesting more waywardness. Instead, they must attempt to remedy the insolence in their hearts, advise the King to mend his ways, and patiently await God’s pardon. If they do so, they will not long be disappointed. The doctrine is essentially conservative, defending the status quo. It is reinforced in this play by the Bishop of Carlisle’s prophecy that God will avenge through civil war the deposition of his anointed (4.1.126–50); an Elizabethan audience would have appreciated the irony of the prophecy’s having come true and having been the subject of Shakespeare’s first historical tetralogy. Moreover, in Richard II the doctrine of passive obedience is a moderate position between the extremes of tyranny and rebellion, and is expressed by thoughtful, selfless characters. We might be tempted to label it Shakespeare’s view if we did not also perceive that the doctrine is continually placed in ironic conflict with harsh political realities. The character who most reflects the ironies and even ludicrous incongruities of the position is the Duke of York. York is to an extent a choric character, that is, one who helps direct our viewpoint, because his transfer of loyalties from Richard to Bolingbroke structurally delineates the decline of Richard’s fortunes and the concurrent rise of Bolingbroke’s. At first York shares his brother Gaunt’s unwillingness to act, despite their dismay at Richard’s willfulness. It is only when Richard seizes the dukedom of Lancaster that York can no longer hold his tongue. His condemnation is as bitter as that of Gaunt, hinting even at loss of allegiance (2.1.200–8). Still, he accepts the responsibility, so cavalierly bestowed by Richard, of govSerning England in the King’s absence. He musters what he can to oppose Bolingbroke’s advance and lecMforce tures against this rebellion with the same vehemence he I had used against Richard’s despotism. Yet, when faced Bolingbroke’s overwhelming military superiority, Twith he accedes rather than fight on behalf of a lost cause. HHowever much this may resemble cowardice or mere expediency, it also displays a pragmatic logic. Once Bol, ingbroke has become de facto king, in York’s view, he must be acknowledged and obeyed. By a kind of analogy to the doctrine of passive obedience (which more rigorJous theorists would never allow), York accepts the status as inevitable. He is vigorously ready to defend the Oquo new regime, just as he earlier defended Richard’s de jure Srule. York’s inconsistent loyalty helps define the structure of the play. H When, however, this conclusion brings York to the Upoint of turning in his own son, Aumerle, for a traitor and quarreling with his wife as to whether their son shall live, Athe ironic absurdity is apparent. Bolingbroke, now King Henry, himself is amused, in one of the play’s rare lighthearted moments (5.3.79–80). At the same time, the com6edy deals with serious issues, especially the conflict between public responsibility urged by York and private 8or emotional satisfaction urged by his Duchess—a con9flict seen earlier, for example, in the debate between Gaunt and his sister-in-law, the widowed Duchess of 0Gloucester (1.2). When a family and a kingdom are against one another, there can be no really satisBdivided factory resolution. U We are never entirely convinced that all the fine old medieval theories surrounding kingship—divine right, passive obedience, trial by combat, and the like—can ever wholly explain or remedy the complex and nasty political situation afflicting England. The one man capable of decisive action, in fact, is he who never theorizes at all: Bolingbroke. As we have seen, his avowed motive for opposing Mowbray—simple patriotic indignation—is uttered with such earnestness that we wonder if indeed Bolingbroke has examined those political ambitions in The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND himself that are so plainly visible to Richard and others. This same discrepancy between surface and depth applies to Bolingbroke’s motives in returning to England. We cannot be sure at what time he begins to plot that return; the conspiracy announced by Northumberland (2.1.224–300) follows so closely after Richard’s violation of Bolingbroke’s hereditary rights and is already so well advanced that we gain the impression of an already existing plot, though some of this impression may be simply owing to Shakespeare’s characteristic compression of historic time. When Bolingbroke arrives in England, in any case, he protests to York with seemingly passionate sincerity that he comes only for his dukedom of Lancaster (2.3.113–36). If so, why does he set about executing Richard’s followers without legal authority and otherwise establishing his own claim to power? Why does he indulge in homophobic slurs against Richard, insinuating that Richard’s favorites have “Broke the possession of a royal bed” (3.1.13), when, as far as we can see from the devotion Richard shows to his queen, the charges are trumped up and untrue? Does Bolingbroke seriously think he can reclaim his dukedom by force and then yield to Richard without either maintaining Richard as a puppet king or placing himself in intolerable jeopardy? And can he suppose that his allies, Northumberland and the rest, who have now openly defied the King, will countenance the return to power of one who would never trust them again? It is in this context that York protests, “Well, well, I see the issue of these arms” (2.3.152). The deposition of Richard and then Richard’s death are unavoidable conclusions once Bolingbroke has succeeded in an armed rebellion. There can be no turning back. Yet Bolingbroke simply will not think in these terms. He permits Northumberland to proceed with almost sadistic harshness in the arrest and impeachment of Richard and then admonishes Northumberland in public for acting so harshly; the dirty work goes forward, with Northumberland taking the blame, while Bolingbroke assumes a statesmanlike pose. When the new King Henry discovers—to his surprise, evidently—that Richard’s life is now a burden to the state, he ponders aloud, “Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?” (5.4.2) and then rebukes Exton for proceeding on cue. Bolingbroke’s pragmatic spirit and new mode of governing are the embodiment of de facto rule. Ultimately, the justification for his authority is the very fact of its existence, its functioning. Bolingbroke is the man of the hour. To apply William Butler Yeats’s striking contrast, the Lancastrian usurpers, Bolingbroke and his son, are vessels of clay, whereas Richard is a vessel of porcelain. One is durable and utilitarian, yet unattractive; the other is exquisite, fragile, and impractical. The comparison does not force us to prefer one to the other, even though Yeats S M I T H , J O S H U A 6 8 9 0 B U himself characteristically sided with beauty against politics. Rather, Shakespeare gives us our choice, allowing us to see in ourselves an inclination toward political and social stability or toward artistic temperament. The paradox may suggest that the qualities of a good administrator are not those of a sensitive, thoughtful man. However hopeless as a king, Richard stands before us increasingly as an introspective and fascinating person. The contradictions of his character are aptly focused in the business of breaking a mirror during his deposition: it is at once symbolic of a narcissistic, shallow concern for appearances and a quest for a deeper, inward truth, so that the smashing of the mirror is an act both of self-destruction and of self-discovery. When Richard’s power crumbles, his spirit is enhanced, as though loss of power and royal identity were necessary for the discovery of true values. In this there is a faint anticipation of King Lear’s selflearning, fearfully and preciously bought. The trace is only slight here, because in good part Richard II is a political history play rather than a tragedy and because Richard’s self-realization is imperfect. Nevertheless, when Richard faces deposition and separation from his queen, and especially when he is alone in prison expecting to die, he strives to understand his life and through it the general condition of humanity. He gains our sympathy in the wonderfully humane interchange between this deposed king and the poor groom of his stable, who once took care of Richard’s horse, roan Barbary, now the possession of the new monarch (5.5.67–94). Richard perceives a contradiction in heaven’s assurances about salvation: Christ promises to receive all God’s children, and yet He also warns that it is as hard for a rich man to enter heaven as for a camel to be threaded through a needle’s eye (5.5.16–17). The paradox echoes the Beatitudes: the last shall be first, the meek shall inherit the earth. Richard, now one of the downtrodden, gropes for an understanding of the vanity of human achievement whereby he can aspire to the victory Christ promised. At his death, that victory seems to him assured: his soul will mount to its seat on high “Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die” (line 112). In this triumph of spirit over flesh, the long downward motion of Richard’s worldly fortune is crucially reversed. By the same token, the worldly success of Bolingbroke is shown to be no more than that: worldly success. His archetype is Cain, the primal murderer of a brother. To the extent that the play is a history, Bolingbroke’s de facto success is a matter of political relevance; but, in the belated movement toward Richard’s personal tragedy, we experience a profound countermovement that partly achieves a purgative sense of atonement and reassurance. Whatever Richard may have lost, his gain is also great. The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 329 330 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND Balance and symmetry are unusually important in Richard II. The play begins and ends with elaborate ritual obeisance to the concept of social and monarchic order, and yet, in both cases, a note of personal disorder refuses to be subdued by the public ceremonial. Shakespeare keeps our response to both Richard and Bolingbroke ambivalent by clouding their respective responsibilities for murder. Just as Richard’s role in Gloucester’s death remains unclear, so Bolingbroke’s role in the assassination of Richard remains equally unclear. Mowbray and Exton, as scapegoats, are in some respects parallel. Because Richard and Bolingbroke are both implicated in the deaths of near kinsmen, both are associated with Cain’s murder of Abel. As Bolingbroke rises in worldly fortune, Richard falls; as Richard finds insight and release through suffering, Bolingbroke finds guilt and remorse through distasteful political necessity. Verbally and structurally, the play explores the rhetorical figure of chiasmus, or the pairing of opposites in an inverted and diagonal pattern whereby one goes down as the other goes up and vice versa. Again and again, the ritual effects of staging and style draw our attention to the balanced conflicts between the two men and within Richard. Symmetry helps to focus these conflicts in visual and aural ways. In particular, the deposition scene, with its spectacle of a coronation in reverse, brings the sacramental and human sides of the central figure into poignant dramatic relationship. Women play a subsidiary role in this play about male struggles for power, and yet the brief scenes in which women take part—the Duchess of Gloucester with Gaunt (1.2), Richard’s queen with his courtiers and gardeners and then with Richard himself (2.2, 3.4, 5.1), the Duchess of York with her husband and son and King Henry (5.2–5.3)—highlight for us important thematic contrasts between the public and private spheres, power and powerlessness, political struggle and humane sensitivity, the state and the family. The women, excluded from roles of practical authority, offer, nonetheless, an invaluable critical perspective on the fateful and often self-consuming political games that men play among themselves. As in Julius Caesar and Troilus and Cressida, the men of Richard II ignore women’s warnings and insights to their own peril and to the discomfiting of the body politic. The imagery of Richard II reinforces structure and meaning. The play is unlike the history plays that follow in its extensive use of blank verse and rhyme and in its interwoven sets of recurring images; Richard II is, in this respect, more typical of the so-called lyric period (c. 1594–1596) that also produced Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Image patterns locate the play in our imaginations as a kind of lost Eden. England is a garden mismanaged by her royal gardener, so that weeds and caterpillars (e.g., Bushy, Bagot, and Green) flourish. The “garden” scene (3.4), located near the center of the play, offering a momentary haven of allegorical reflection on the play’s hectic events, is central in the development of the garden metaphor. England is also a sick body, illtended by her royal physician, and a family divided against itself, yielding abortive and sterile progeny. Her political ills are attested to by disorders in the cosmos: comets, shooting stars, withered bay trees, and weeping rains. Night owls, associated with death, prevail over the larks of morning. The sun, royally associated at first with SRichard, deserts him for Bolingbroke and leaves Richard the Phaëthon who has mishandled the sun-god’s charMas iot and so scorched the earth. Linked to the sun image is I the prevalent leitmotif of ascent and descent. And, touchon all these, a cluster of biblical images sees England Ting as a despoiled garden of Eden witnessing a second fall of Hhumanity. Richard repeatedly brands his enemies and deserters as Judases and Pilates—not always fairly; , nonetheless, in his last agony, he finds genuine consolation in Christ’s example. For a man so self-absorbed in the drama of his existence, this poetic method is intensely Jsuitable. Language and stage action have combined perto express the conflict between a sensitive but Ofectly flawed king and his efficient but unlovable successor. S In performance, the play belongs to Richard. However much he ends up the loser, his role calls for a kind of royal Hcharisma that Bolingbroke never achieves. Such was the Ueffect, at any rate, in Brian Bedford’s enactment of the role at Stratford, Canada, in 1983; his appearance on the walls Aof Flint Castle in 3.3, splendidly attired in white robes with gold trim, embodied a regal image of kingship that was then forced to humble itself before Bolingbroke’s 6brute might. John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Michael Redgrave, Paul Scofield, John Neville, Ian McKellen, Ian 8Richardson, Richard Pasco, Derek Jacobi, Alan Howard, 9Jeremy Irons, Ralph Fiennes, the actress Fiona Shaw, and still other leading performers of their day have found the 0role one in which they could enthrall audiences with the cadences of Richard’s speeches. The role has also Bnuanced afforded a wide range of interpretations; Guinness saw Uhim as unhappily neurotic, Gielgud as kindly, Redgrave as effeminate, Scofield as cerebral and remote, McKellen as one who is convinced of his semi-divine nature. The play has also become a vehicle for spectacle and striking visual effects emphasizing the symmetries of the text’s attention to poetic symbolism and social ritual; glittering pageantry and fading splendor vie for our interest and our loyalties. The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. The Tragedy of King Richard the Second ‫ﱸﱷﱶ‬ S Personae [Dramatis KING RICHARD THE SECOND Richard’s wife J O H N O F G A U N T , Duke of Lancaster, King Richard’s uncle H E N RY B O L I N G B R O K E , John of Gaunt’s son, Duke of Hereford and claimant to his father’s dukedom of Lancaster, later King Henry IV D U K E O F Y O R K , Edmund of Langley, King Richard’s uncle QUEEN, DUCHESS OF YORK DUKE OF AUMERLE, York’s son and the Earl of Rutland widow of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester (King Richard’s uncle) DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER, T H O M A S M O W B R AY , Duke of Norfolk, E A R L O F S A L I S B U RY , LORD BERKELEY, DUKE OF SURREY, BISHOP OF CARLISLE, SIR STEPHEN SCROOP, ABBOT OF WESTMINSTER, supporters of King Richard BUSHY, BAGOT, favorites of King Richard, GREEN, C A P TA I N of the Welsh Army, scene: England and Wales] M I T H , Northumberland’s son, LORD ROSS, LORD WILLOUGHBY, L O R D F I T Z WAT E R , supporters of Bolingbroke SIR PIERCE OF EXTON, Another L O R D , Two H E R A L D S GARDENER GARDENER’S MAN attending the Queen of the prison M A N attending Exton LADY KEEPER A to York of the stable S E RV I N G M A N GROOM Lords, Officers, Soldiers, Attendants, Ladies attending the Queen 6 8 9 0 B U Brought hither Henry Hereford, thy bold son, Here to make good the boist’rous late appeal, Which then our leisure would not let us hear, Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray? GAUNT I have, my liege. Enter King Richard, John of Gaunt, with other nobles and attendants. KING RICHARD 1.1. Location: A room of state. (Holinshed’s Chronicles places this scene at Windsor, in 1398.) 1 Old John of Gaunt (Born in 1340 at Ghent; hence the surname Gaunt. In 1398 he was fifty-eight years old.) H A R RY P E R C Y , LORD MARSHAL J O S H U A [1.1] Old John of Gaunt, time-honored Lancaster, Hast thou according to thy oath and bond E A R L O F N O RT H U M B E R L A N D , 1 4 5 7 KING RICHARD Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him 8 4 late recent. appeal accusation, formal challenge or impeachment that the accuser was obliged to maintain in combat 5 our, us (The royal plural.) leisure i.e., lack of leisure 7 liege i.e., sovereign. 8 sounded inquired of 331 The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 332 13–51 • 52–94 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 1.1 If he appeal the Duke on ancient malice, Or worthily, as a good subject should, On some known ground of treachery in him? 9 GAUNT As near as I could sift him on that argument, On some apparent danger seen in him Aimed at Your Highness, no inveterate malice. 12 13 KING RICHARD Then call them to our presence. [Exit an attendant.] Face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear The accuser and the accusèd freely speak. High-stomached are they both, and full of ire; In rage, deaf as the sea, hasty as fire. 16 18 Enter Bolingbroke and Mowbray. BOLINGBROKE Many years of happy days befall My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege! M O W B R AY Each day still better others’ happiness, Until the heavens, envying earth’s good hap, Add an immortal title to your crown! 22 23 KING RICHARD We thank you both. Yet one but flatters us, As well appeareth by the cause you come: Namely, to appeal each other of high treason. Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray? 26 28 BOLINGBROKE First—heaven be the record to my speech!— In the devotion of a subject’s love, Tend’ring the precious safety of my prince, And free from other misbegotten hate, Come I appellant to this princely presence. Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee; And mark my greeting well, for what I speak My body shall make good upon this earth Or my divine soul answer it in heaven. Thou art a traitor and a miscreant, Too good to be so and too bad to live, Since the more fair and crystal is the sky, The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly. Once more, the more to aggravate the note, With a foul traitor’s name stuff I thy throat, And wish, so please my sovereign, ere I move, What my tongue speaks my right-drawn sword may prove. 9 appeal accuse. on . . . malice on the grounds of a long-standing enmity 12 sift discover by questioning. argument subject 13 apparent obvious, manifest 16 ourselves I myself. (The royal plural.) 18 High-stomached Haughty 22 Each . . . happiness May each day improve on the happiness of other past days 23 hap fortune 26 you come for which you come 28 what . . . object what accusation do you bring 30 record witness 32 Tend’ring watching over, holding dear 34 appellant as the accuser 38 answer answer for 39 miscreant irreligious villain 40 good i.e., noble, high-born 41 crystal clear. (The image alludes to the crystal spheres in which, according to the Ptolemaic conception of the universe, the heavenly bodies were fixed.) 43 aggravate the note emphasize the stigma, i.e., the charge of treason 45 so please if it please 46 right-drawn justly drawn 30 32 34 38 39 40 41 43 45 46 M O W B R AY Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal. ’Tis not the trial of a woman’s war, The bitter clamor of two eager tongues, Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain; The blood is hot that must be cooled for this. Yet can I not of such tame patience boast As to be hushed and naught at all to say. First, the fair reverence of Your Highness curbs me From giving reins and spurs to my free speech, Which else would post until it had returned These terms of treason doubled down his throat. Setting aside his high blood’s royalty, And let him be no kinsman to my liege, S I do defy him, and I spit at him, Call him a slanderous coward and a villain; M Which to maintain I would allow him odds meet him, were I tied to run afoot I And Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps any other ground inhabitable T Or Wherever Englishman durst set his foot. H Meantime, let this defend my loyalty: By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie. , B O L I N G B R O K E [throwing down his gage] Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage, Disclaiming here the kindred of the King, lay aside my high blood’s royalty, J And Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except. O If guilty dread have left thee so much strength As to take up mine honor’s pawn, then stoop. S By that, and all the rites of knighthood else, I make good against thee, arm to arm, H Will What I have spoke or thou canst worse devise. B R AY [taking up the gage] UM OIWtake it up; and by that sword I swear A Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder, I’ll answer thee in any fair degree Or chivalrous design of knightly trial; when I mount, alive may I not light 6 And If I be traitor or unjustly fight! G RICHARD 8K I NWhat doth our cousin lay to Mowbray’s charge? 9 It must be great that can inherit us So much as of a thought of ill in him. 0B O L I N G B R O K E what I speak, my life shall prove it true: B Look That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles U In name of lendings for Your Highness’ soldiers, 47 48 49 50 56 58 59 63 65 69 70 72 74 77 82 85 87 88 89 47 accuse my zeal cast doubt on my zeal or loyalty. 48 woman’s war i.e., war of words 49 eager sharp, biting 50 Can that can 56 post ride at high speed (like a messenger riding relays of horses) 58 Setting . . . royalty Disregarding Bolingbroke’s royal blood (as grandson of Edward III) 59 let him be suppose him to be 63 tied obliged 65 inhabitable uninhabitable 69 gage a pledge to combat (usually a glove or gauntlet, i.e., a mailed or armored glove) 70 Disclaiming relinquishing. kindred kinship 72 except exempt, set aside. 74 pawn i.e., the gage 77 or . . . devise or anything worse you can imagine to have been said about you. 82 light alight, dismount 85 inherit us put me in possession of, make me have 87 Look what Whatever 88 nobles gold coins worth six shillings eight pence 89 lendings advances on pay The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 95–132 • 133–171 The which he hath detained for lewd employments, Like a false traitor and injurious villain. Besides I say, and will in battle prove Or here or elsewhere to the furthest verge That ever was surveyed by English eye, That all the treasons for these eighteen years Complotted and contrivèd in this land Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring. Further I say, and further will maintain Upon his bad life to make all this good, That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester’s death, Suggest his soon-believing adversaries, And consequently, like a traitor coward, Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood— Which blood, like sacrificing Abel’s, cries Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth To me for justice and rough chastisement. And, by the glorious worth of my descent, This arm shall do it or this life be spent. KING RICHARD How high a pitch his resolution soars! Thomas of Norfolk, what say’st thou to this? 90 93 95 96 97 100 101 102 S M 104 105 I T H 109 , 103 M O W B R AY Oh, let my sovereign turn away his face And bid his ears a little while be deaf, Till I have told this slander of his blood How God and good men hate so foul a liar! KING RICHARD Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears. Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom’s heir, As he is but my father’s brother’s son, Now, by my scepter’s awe I make a vow, Such neighbor nearness to our sacred blood Should nothing privilege him nor partialize The unstooping firmness of my upright soul. He is our subject, Mowbray; so art thou. Free speech and fearless I to thee allow. M O W B R AY Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart Through the false passage of thy throat thou liest! Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais Disbursed I duly to His Highness’ soldiers; 90 lewd vile, base 93 Or either 95 these eighteen years i.e., ever since the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 96 Complotted plotted in a conspiracy 97 Fetch derive. head and spring (Synonymous words meaning “origin.”) 100 Duke of Gloucester’s death (Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, a younger son of Edward III and brother of John of Gaunt, was murdered at Calais in September 1397, while in Mowbray’s custody.) 101 Suggest . . . adversaries did prompt Gloucester’s easily persuaded enemies (to believe him guilty of treason) 102 consequently afterward 103 Sluiced out let flow (as by the opening of a sluice, or valve) 104 Abel’s (For the story of Cain’s murder of his brother Abel, the first such murder on earth and the archetype of the killing of a kinsman, see Genesis 4:3–12.) 105 tongueless resonant but without articulate speech; echoing 109 pitch highest reach of a falcon’s flight 113 this slander . . . blood this disgrace to the royal family 118 my scepter’s awe the reverence due my scepter 120 nothing not at all. partialize make partial, bias 126 receipt money received 333 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 1.1 The other part reserved I by consent, For that my sovereign liege was in my debt Upon remainder of a dear account Since last I went to France to fetch his queen. Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester’s death, I slew him not, but to my own disgrace Neglected my sworn duty in that case. [To Gaunt] For you, my noble lord of Lancaster, The honorable father to my foe, Once did I lay an ambush for your life, A trespass that doth vex my grievèd soul; But ere I last received the Sacrament I did confess it, and exactly begged Your Grace’s pardon, and I hope I had it. This is my fault. As for the rest appealed, It issues from the rancor of a villain, A recreant and most degenerate traitor, Which in myself I boldly will defend, And interchangeably hurl down my gage Upon this overweening traitor’s foot, To prove myself a loyal gentleman Even in the best blood chambered in his bosom. [He throws down his gage. Bolingbroke picks it up.] In haste whereof most heartily I pray Your Highness to assign our trial day. 129 130 131 132 133 134 140 142 144 145 146 147 149 150 KING RICHARD J 113 O S H 118 U 120 A Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me; Let’s purge this choler without letting blood. This we prescribe, though no physician; Deep malice makes too deep incision. Forget, forgive; conclude and be agreed; Our doctors say this is no month to bleed.— Good uncle, let this end where it begun; We’ll calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your son. 153 156 157 GAUNT To be a make-peace shall become my age. Throw down, my son, the Duke of Norfolk’s gage. KING RICHARD 6 8 126 9 0 B U And Norfolk, throw down his. When, Harry, when? Obedience bids I should not bid again. GAUNT KING RICHARD Norfolk, throw down, we bid; there is no boot. 129 For that because 130 Upon . . . account for the balance of a heavy debt 131 Since . . . queen (Mowbray went in 1395 to France to negotiate the King’s marriage to Isabella, daughter of the French King Charles VI, but Richard himself escorted her to England.) 132–4 For . . . case (Mowbray speaks guardedly but seems to imply that he postponed the execution of Gloucester that he was ordered by Richard to carry out.) 132 For As for 140 exactly (1) explicitly (2) fully 142 appealed of which I am charged 144 recreant cowardly; or, coward (used as a noun) 145 Which which charge. in myself in my own person 146 interchangeably in exchange, reciprocally 147 overweening arrogant, proud 149 Even in by shedding 150 In haste whereof To hasten which proof of my innocence 153 Let’s . . . blood let’s treat this wrath (caused by an excess of bile or choler) by purging (vomiting or evacuation) rather than by medical bloodletting. (With a play on “bloodshed in combat.”) 156 conclude come to a final agreement 157 no month to bleed (Learned authorities often differed as to which months or seasons were best for medicinal bloodletting.) 164 boot help for it. The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 164 334 172–209 • 210–248 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 1.1 [kneeling] Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot. My life thou shalt command, but not my shame. The one my duty owes; but my fair name, Despite of death that lives upon my grave, To dark dishonor’s use thou shalt not have. I am disgraced, impeached, and baffled here, Pierced to the soul with slander’s venomed spear, The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood Which breathed this poison. KING RICHARD Rage must be withstood. Give me his gage. Lions make leopards tame. There shall your swords and lances arbitrate The swelling difference of your settled hate. Since we cannot atone you, we shall see Justice design the victor’s chivalry. Lord Marshal, command our officers at arms Be ready to direct these home alarms. M O W B R AY 165 168 173 [1.2] 174 Enter John of Gaunt with the Duchess of Gloucester. 175 177 182 184 SG A U N T Alas, the part I had in Woodstock’s blood M Doth more solicit me than your exclaims stir against the butchers of his life! I To But since correction lieth in those hands made the fault that we cannot correct, T Which Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven, H Who, when they see the hours ripe on earth, Will rain hot vengeance on offenders’ heads. , DUCHESS 186 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 J O S H U A KING RICHARD We were not born to sue but to command; Which since we cannot do to make you friends, Be ready, as your lives shall answer it, At Coventry upon Saint Lambert’s day. 165 Myself I throw i.e., I throw myself, instead of my gage 168 Despite . . . grave that will live in the epitaph on my grave in spite of devouring Death 170 impeached accused. baffled publicly dishonored 173 Which . . . poison of him who uttered this slander. 174 Lions . . . tame (The royal arms showed a lion rampant; Mowbray’s emblem was a leopard.) 175 spots (1) leopard spots (2) stains of dishonor. 177 mortal times our earthly lives 182 in one inseparably 184 try put to the test 186 throw . . . gage i.e., surrender your gage up to me, thereby ending the quarrel. (Richard is probably seated on a raised throne, as in scene 3.) 189 impeach my height discredit my high rank 190 out-dared dared down, cowed. dastard coward. 191 feeble wrong dishonorable submission 192 sound . . . parle trumpet so shameful a negotiation, i.e., consent to ask a truce 192–5 my teeth . . . face my teeth will bite off my tongue as a craven instrument of cowardly capitulation and spit it out bleeding, to its (the tongue’s) great disgrace, into Mowbray’s face, where shame abides perpetually. 195.1 Exit Gaunt (A stage direction from the Folio, adopted by most editors so that Gaunt will not be required to exit at the end of scene 1 and then immediately reenter.) 199 Saint Lambert’s day September 17. 205 ✤ BOLINGBROKE Oh, God defend my soul from such deep sin! Shall I seem crestfallen in my father’s sight? Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height Before this out-dared dastard? Ere my tongue Shall wound my honor with such feeble wrong, Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear The slavish motive of recanting fear And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace, Where shame doth harbor, even in Mowbray’s face. [Exit Gaunt.] 203 Exeunt. 170 M O W B R AY Yea, but not change his spots. Take but my shame, And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord, The purest treasure mortal times afford Is spotless reputation; that away, Men are but gilded loam or painted clay. A jewel in a ten-times-barred-up chest Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast. Mine honor is my life; both grow in one; Take honor from me, and my life is done. Then, dear my liege, mine honor let me try; In that I live, and for that will I die. K I N G R I C H A R D [to Bolingbroke] Cousin, throw up your gage; do you begin. 202 199 6 8 9 0 B U Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur? Hath love in thy old blood no living fire? Edward’s seven sons, whereof thyself art one, Were as seven vials of his sacred blood Or seven fair branches springing from one root. Some of those seven are dried by nature’s course, Some of those branches by the Destinies cut; But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloucester, One vial full of Edward’s sacred blood, One flourishing branch of his most royal root, Is cracked, and all the precious liquor spilt, Is hacked down, and his summer leaves all faded, By envy’s hand and murder’s bloody ax. Ah, Gaunt, his blood was thine! That bed, that womb, That metal, that self mold that fashioned thee, Made him a man; and though thou livest and breathest, Yet art thou slain in him. Thou dost consent In some large measure to thy father’s death In that thou see’st thy wretched brother die, Who was the model of thy father’s life. Call it not patience, Gaunt; it is despair. In suff’ring thus thy brother to be slaughtered, Thou showest the naked pathway to thy life, 1 2 3 4 11 21 23 25 28 31 202 atone reconcile 203 design . . . chivalry designate who is the true chivalric victor. 205 home alarms domestic conflicts. 1.2. Location: John of Gaunt’s house (? No place is specified, and the scene is not in Holinshed.) 1 the part . . . blood my kinship with Thomas of Woodstock, the Duke of Gloucester (i.e., as the older brother) 2 exclaims exclamations 3 stir take action 4 those hands i.e., Richard’s (whom Gaunt charges with responsibility for Gloucester’s death) 11 Edward’s Edward III’s 21 envy’s malice’s 23 metal substance out of which a person or a thing is made. (With a sense too of mettle, “temperament, disposition.”) self selfsame 25 consent acquiesce 28 model likeness, copy 31 naked i.e., undefended The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 249–288 • 289–323 Teaching stern murder how to butcher thee. That which in mean men we entitle patience Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts. What shall I say? To safeguard thine own life The best way is to venge my Gloucester’s death. 33 37 39 Where then, alas, may I complain myself? To God, the widow’s champion and defense. DUCHESS Why, then, I will. Farewell, old Gaunt. Thou goest to Coventry, there to behold Our cousin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight. Oh, sit my husband’s wrongs on Hereford’s spear, That it may enter butcher Mowbray’s breast! Or if misfortune miss the first career, Be Mowbray’s sins so heavy in his bosom That they may break his foaming courser’s back And throw the rider headlong in the lists, A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford! Farewell, old Gaunt. Thy sometimes brother’s wife With her companion, Grief, must end her life. GAUNT Sister, farewell. I must to Coventry. As much good stay with thee as go with me! DUCHESS Yet one word more. Grief boundeth where it falls, Not with the empty hollowness, but weight. I take my leave before I have begun, For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done. Commend me to thy brother, Edmund York. Lo, this is all. Nay, yet depart not so! Though this be all, do not so quickly go; I shall remember more. Bid him—ah, what?— With all good speed at Pleshey visit me. Alack, and what shall good old York there see But empty lodgings and unfurnished walls, Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones, And what hear there for welcome but my groans? Therefore commend me; let him not come there 33 mean lowly 37 God’s substitute i.e., the King, God’s deputy on earth 39 his i.e., Gloucester’s 42 complain myself lodge a complaint on my own behalf. 46 cousin kinsman. fell fierce 47 sit . . . wrongs may my husband’s wrongs sit 49 misfortune i.e., Mowbray’s downfall. career charge of the horse in a tourney or combat 52 lists barriers enclosing the tournament area 53 caitiff base, cowardly 54 sometimes late 58 boundeth bounces, rebounds, returns. (The Duchess apologizes for speaking yet again; her grief, she says, continues on and on, like a bouncing tennis ball.) 59 Not . . . weight (Grief is not hollow, like a tennis ball, but continues to move because of its heaviness.) 60 begun i.e., begun to grieve 62 Edmund York Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III. 66 Pleshey Gloucester’s country seat, in Essex 68 unfurnished bare 69 offices service quarters, workrooms [1.3] Enter Lord Marshal and the Duke [of] Aumerle. MARSHAL My Lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford armed? AUMERLE DUCHESS GAUNT To seek out sorrow that dwells everywhere. Desolate, desolate, will I hence and die. The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye. Exeunt. ✤ GAUNT God’s is the quarrel; for God’s substitute, His deputy anointed in His sight, Hath caused his death; the which if wrongfully Let heaven revenge, for I may never lift An angry arm against His minister. 335 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 1.3 42 S M I 46 47 T 49 H , Yea, at all points, and longs to enter in. The Duke of Norfolk, sprightfully and bold, Stays but the summons of the appellant’s trumpet. The trumpets sound, and the King enters with his nobles [Gaunt, Bushy, Bagot, Green, and others]. When they are set, enter [Mowbray] the Duke of Norfolk in arms, defendant, [with a herald]. KING RICHARD Marshal, demand of yonder champion The cause of his arrival here in arms. Ask him his name, and orderly proceed To swear him in the justice of his cause. M A R S H A L [to Mowbray] In God’s name and the King’s, say who thou art And why thou comest thus knightly clad in arms, Against what man thou com’st, and what thy quarrel. Speak truly on thy knighthood and thy oath, As so defend thee heaven and thy valor! 62 6 66 8 68 9 69 0 B U 4 Why then the champions are prepared, and stay For nothing but His Majesty’s approach. 53 J O S H 58 59 U 60 A 3 AUMERLE 52 54 2 MARSHAL 9 13 M O W B R AY My name is Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, Who hither come engagèd by my oath— Which God defend a knight should violate!— Both to defend my loyalty and truth To God, my king, and my succeeding issue Against the Duke of Hereford that appeals me, And by the grace of God and this mine arm To prove him, in defending of myself, A traitor to my God, my king, and me; And as I truly fight, defend me heaven! The trumpets sound. Enter [Bolingbroke,] Duke of Hereford, appellant, in armor, [with a herald]. KING RICHARD Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms 1.3. Location: The lists at Coventry. Scaffolds or raised seats are provided for the King and his nobles, and chairs are provided for the combatants. 2 at all points completely. in i.e., into the lists, the space designed for combat. 3 sprightfully with high spirit 4 Stays awaits 9 orderly according to the rules 13 quarrel complaint. 18 defend forbid 21 appeals accuses The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 18 21 336 324–365 • 366–404 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 1.3 Both who he is and why he cometh hither Thus plated in habiliments of war; And formally, according to our law, Depose him in the justice of his cause. M A R S H A L [to Bolingbroke] What is thy name? And wherefore com’st thou hither, Before King Richard in his royal lists? Against whom comest thou? And what’s thy quarrel? Speak like a true knight, so defend thee heaven! 28 30 BOLINGBROKE [To Gaunt] O thou, the earthly author of my blood, Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate, Doth with a twofold vigor lift me up To reach at victory above my head, Add proof unto mine armor with thy prayers, And with thy blessings steel my lance’s point That it may enter Mowbray’s waxen coat And furbish new the name of John o’ Gaunt Even in the lusty havior of his son. 70 71 73 75 76 77 GAUNT Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby Am I, who ready here do stand in arms To prove, by God’s grace and my body’s valor, In lists, on Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, That he is a traitor foul and dangerous To God of heaven, King Richard, and to me; And as I truly fight, defend me heaven! God in thy good cause make thee prosperous! Be swift like lightning in the execution, And let thy blows, doubly redoubled, Fall like amazing thunder on the casque Of thy adverse pernicious enemy. Rouse up thy youthful blood, be valiant, and live. MARSHAL On pain of death, no person be so bold Or daring-hardy as to touch the lists, Except the Marshal and such officers Appointed to direct these fair designs. 43 BOLINGBROKE Lord Marshal, let me kiss my sovereign’s hand And bow my knee before His Majesty; For Mowbray and myself are like two men That vow a long and weary pilgrimage. Then let us take a ceremonious leave And loving farewell of our several friends. M A R S H A L [to King Richard] The appellant in all duty greets Your Highness And craves to kiss your hand and take his leave. K I N G R I C H A R D [coming down] We will descend and fold him in our arms. [He embraces Bolingbroke.] Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right, So be thy fortune in this royal fight! Farewell, my blood—which if today thou shed, Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead. 47 51 55 56 BOLINGBROKE Oh, let no noble eye profane a tear For me if I be gored with Mowbray’s spear. As confident as is the falcon’s flight Against a bird do I with Mowbray fight. [To the King] My loving lord, I take my leave of you; [To Aumerle] Of you, my noble cousin, Lord Aumerle; Not sick, although I have to do with death, But lusty, young, and cheerly drawing breath. Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet. 28 plated armored. habiliments the attire 30 Depose him take his sworn deposition 43 daring-hardy daringly bold, reckless. touch i.e., interfere in 47 bow my knee (Presumably Bolingbroke kneels to Richard and, at about line 69, to Gaunt.) 51 several various 55 as insofar as 56 royal fight i.e., a fight taking place in the presence of the King. 59–60 profane . . . For me misuse tears by weeping for me 66 lusty full of vigor. cheerly cheerfully 67 regreet greet, salute 68 The daintiest i.e., the most tasty, the finest. (Bolingbroke refers to the custom of ending banquets with a sweet dessert.) 59 60 66 67 S MB O L I N G B R O K E innocence and Saint George to thrive! I M OMine W B R AY God or fortune cast my lot, T However There lives or dies, true to King Richard’s throne, H A loyal, just, and upright gentleman. Never did captive with a freer heart , Cast off his chains of bondage and embrace His golden uncontrolled enfranchisement More than my dancing soul doth celebrate This feast of battle with mine adversary. Most mighty liege, and my companion peers, Take from my mouth the wish of happy years. As gentle and as jocund as to jest Go I to fight. Truth hath a quiet breast. J O S G RICHARD HK I NFarewell, my lord. Securely I espy Virtue with valor couchèd in thine eye.— U Order the trial, Marshal, and begin. AM A R S H A L 81 84 90 94 95 96 97 98 Harry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, Receive thy lance; and God defend the right! [A lance is given to Bolingbroke.] 6B O L I N G B R O K E 102 as a tower in hope, I cry “Amen!” 8M A Strong R S H A L [to an officer] 9 Go bear this lance to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk. [A lance is given to Mowbray.] 0F I R S T H E R A L D of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby B Harry Stands here for God, his sovereign, and himself, pain to be found false and recreant, U On To prove the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, 68 70 regenerate born anew 71 twofold i.e., of father and son 73 proof invulnerability 75 enter . . . coat pierce Mowbray’s armor as though it were made of wax 76 furbish polish 77 lusty havior vigorous behavior, deportment 81 amazing bewildering. casque helmet 84 Mine . . . thrive! May my innocence and the protectorship of Saint George bring me victory! 90 enfranchisement freedom 94 Take . . . years take from me the wish that you may enjoy many happy years. 95 gentle unperturbed in spirit. to jest i.e., to a play or entertainment 96 quiet calm 97 Securely Confidently 98 couchèd lodged, expressed, leveled in readiness (as with a lance) 102 Strong . . . hope (Alludes to Psalm 61:3: “for thou hast been my hope, and a strong tower for me against the face of the enemy.”) The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 405–441 • 442–484 A traitor to his God, his king, and him, And dares him to set forward to the fight. 108 SECOND HERALD Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, On pain to be found false and recreant, Both to defend himself and to approve Henry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby, To God, his sovereign, and to him disloyal, Courageously and with a free desire Attending but the signal to begin. 112 114 116 MARSHAL Sound, trumpets, and set forward, combatants! [A charge is sounded. Richard throws down his baton.] Stay! The King hath thrown his warder down. S M Let them lay by their helmets and their spears, And both return back to their chairs again. [To his counselors] Withdraw with us, and let the trumpets I sound T 122 While we return these dukes what we decree. [A long flourish. Richard consults apart with H Gaunt and others.] , Draw near, 118 KING RICHARD And list what with our council we have done. For that our kingdom’s earth should not be soiled With that dear blood which it hath fosterèd; And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect Of civil wounds plowed up with neighbors’ sword; And for we think the eagle-wingèd pride Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts, With rival-hating envy, set on you To wake our peace, which in our country’s cradle Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep, Which, so roused up with boist’rous untuned drums, With harsh-resounding trumpets’ dreadful bray And grating shock of wrathful iron arms, Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace And make us wade even in our kindred’s blood: Therefore we banish you our territories. You, cousin Hereford, upon pain of life, Till twice five summers have enriched our fields, Shall not regreet our fair dominions, But tread the stranger paths of banishment. BOLINGBROKE Your will be done. This must my comfort be: That sun that warms you here shall shine on me, And those his golden beams to you here lent Shall point on me and gild my banishment. 124 125 J 127 O S 131 H U 134 A 6 140 8 9 143 0 B U Which I with some unwillingness pronounce: The sly slow hours shall not determinate The dateless limit of thy dear exile. The hopeless word of “never to return” Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life. 150 151 M O W B R AY A heavy sentence, my most sovereign liege, And all unlooked-for from Your Highness’ mouth. A dearer merit, not so deep a maim As to be cast forth in the common air, Have I deservèd at Your Highness’ hands. The language I have learned these forty years, My native English, now I must forgo; And now my tongue’s use is to me no more Than an unstringèd viol or a harp, Or like a cunning instrument cased up, Or, being open, put into his hands That knows no touch to tune the harmony. Within my mouth you have enjailed my tongue, Doubly portcullised with my teeth and lips, And dull unfeeling barren ignorance Is made my jailer to attend on me. I am too old to fawn upon a nurse, Too far in years to be a pupil now. What is thy sentence then but speechless death, Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath? 156 162 163 164 167 173 KING RICHARD It boots thee not to be compassionate. After our sentence plaining comes too late. 174 175 M O W B R AY Then thus I turn me from my country’s light, To dwell in solemn shades of endless night. [He starts to leave.] KING RICHARD Return again, and take an oath with thee. Lay on our royal sword your banished hands. [They place their hands on Richard’s sword.] Swear by the duty that you owe to God— Our part therein we banish with yourselves— To keep the oath that we administer: You never shall, so help you truth and God, Embrace each other’s love in banishment, Nor never look upon each other’s face, Nor never write, regreet, nor reconcile This louring tempest of your homebred hate; Nor never by advisèd purpose meet To plot, contrive, or complot any ill ’Gainst us, our state, our subjects, or our land. BOLINGBROKE I swear. KING RICHARD Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom, 108 him himself, Bolingbroke. (See line 40.) 112 approve prove 114 him i.e., Mowbray. (See line 24.) 116 Attending awaiting 118 warder staff or truncheon borne by the King when presiding over a trial by combat 122 While we return until I inform 122.1 flourish fanfare. 124 list hear 125 For that In order that 127 for because (also in line 129) 131 envy enmity. set on you set you on 134 Which i.e., which enmity, disturbance of the peace. (Although, in literal terms, the antecedent of Which is peace in line 132.) 140 life i.e., loss of life 143 stranger alien 337 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 1.3 150 sly stealthy. determinate put to an end 151 dateless limit unlimited term. dear grievous 156 dearer merit better reward. maim injury 162 viol a six-stringed instrument, related to the modern violin, played with a curved bow 163 cunning skillfully made 164 open taken from its case. his that person’s 167 portcullised shut in by a portcullis, an iron grating over a gateway that can be raised and lowered 173 breathing . . . breath speaking English. 174 boots avails. compassionate full of laments. 175 plaining complaining 181 Our part therein i.e., the duty you owe me as King 187 louring threatening, scowling 188 advisèd deliberate, premeditated 189 complot plot together The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 181 187 188 189 338 485–525 • 526–555 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 1.3 M O W B R AY And I, to keep all this. KING RICHARD BOLINGBROKE Norfolk, so far as to mine enemy: By this time, had the King permitted us, One of our souls had wandered in the air, Banished this frail sepulchre of our flesh, As now our flesh is banished from this land. Confess thy treasons ere thou fly the realm. Since thou hast far to go, bear not along The clogging burden of a guilty soul. 193 200 206 208 BOLINGBROKE How long a time lies in one little word! Four lagging winters and four wanton springs End in a word; such is the breath of kings. 214 GAUNT I thank my liege that in regard of me He shortens four years of my son’s exile. But little vantage shall I reap thereby; For, ere the six years that he hath to spend Can change their moons and bring their times about, My oil-dried lamp and time-bewasted light Shall be extinct with age and endless night; My inch of taper will be burnt and done, And blindfold Death not let me see my son. 221 Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour. You urged me as a judge, but I had rather You would have bid me argue like a father. Oh, had it been a stranger, not my child, To smooth his fault I should have been more mild. A partial slander sought I to avoid And in the sentence my own life destroyed. Alas, I looked when some of you should say I was too strict, to make mine own away; But you gave leave to my unwilling tongue Against my will to do myself this wrong. 224 Why, uncle, thou hast many years to live. GAUNT 230 231 232 My lord, no leave take I, for I will ride, As far as land will let me, by your side. [Bolingbroke makes no answer. The Lord Marshal J stands aside.] OG A U N T [to Bolingbroke] Oh, to what purpose dost thou hoard thy words, S That thou returnest no greeting to thy friends? NGBROKE HB O LIIhave too few to take my leave of you, When the office should be prodigal U To breathetongue’s the abundant dolor of the heart. AG A U N T 241 243 244 251 256 257 258 BOLINGBROKE absent, grief is present for that time. 6G A UJoy NT is six winters? They are quickly gone. 8B O LWhat INGBROKE 9 To men in joy; but grief makes one hour ten. GAUNT 0 Call it a travel that thou tak’st for pleasure. INGBROKE BB O LMy heart will sigh when I miscall it so, Which UG A U N T finds it an enforcèd pilgrimage. The sullen passage of thy weary steps 193 so far let me say this much 196 sepulchre of our flesh i.e., body, the temple or tomb of the soul 200 clogging (A clog was a wooden block attached to the leg to hinder movement.) 206 stray take the wrong road 208 glasses mirrors (here glistening with tears) 214 wanton luxuriant 221 oil-dried empty of oil 223 taper candle 224 blindfold Death i.e., blindfold because Death deprives its victims of their sight and because it is often pictured as an eyeless skull 230 in his pilgrimage brought about in time’s journey 231 current i.e., as good as current coin, valid 232 dead i.e., once I am dead. buy i.e., restore with a payment 240 S MK I N G R I C H A R D farewell; and, uncle, bid him so. I Cousin, Six years we banish him, and he shall go. [Flourish. Exit King Richard with his train.] TA U M E R L E [to Bolingbroke] H Cousin, farewell. What presence must not know, 249 From where you do remain let paper show. [Exit.] 250 , M A R S H A L [to Bolingbroke] Thy grief is but thy absence for a time. 223 KING RICHARD But not a minute, King, that thou canst give. Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow, And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow; Thou canst help Time to furrow me with age, But stop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage; Thy word is current with him for my death, But dead, thy kingdom cannot buy my breath. 234 GAUNT 196 M O W B R AY No, Bolingbroke. If ever I were traitor, My name be blotted from the book of life, And I from heaven banished as from hence! But what thou art, God, thou, and I do know, And all too soon, I fear, the King shall rue.— Farewell, my liege. Now no way can I stray; Save back to England, all the world’s my way. Exit. K I N G R I C H A R D [to Gaunt] Uncle, even in the glasses of thine eyes I see thy grievèd heart. Thy sad aspect Hath from the number of his banished years Plucked four away. [To Bolingbroke] Six frozen winters spent, Return with welcome home from banishment. Thy son is banished upon good advice, Whereto thy tongue a party verdict gave. Why at our justice seem’st thou then to lour? 259 262 265 234 a party verdict one person’s share in a joint verdict 240 smooth extenuate 241 partial slander accusation of partiality (on behalf of my son) 243 looked when expected that, awaited the point at which 244 to . . . away in making away with my own (son) 249 What . . . know What I cannot learn from you in person 250 s.d. Exit (The exit is uncertain; see 1.4.1–4.) 251 no leave take I i.e., I will not take my leave of you, my lord; I will not say good-bye 256 office function. prodigal lavish 257 To breathe in uttering 258 grief grievance 259 grief unhappiness 262 travel (The quarto spelling, ”trauaile,” suggests an interchangeable meaning of “travel” and “labor.”) 265 sullen (1) melancholy (2) dull The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 556–567 • 568–602 Esteem as foil wherein thou art to set The precious jewel of thy home return. 266 BOLINGBROKE Oh, who can hold a fire in his hand By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite By bare imagination of a feast? Or wallow naked in December snow By thinking on fantastic summer’s heat? Oh, no, the apprehension of the good Gives but the greater feeling to the worse. Fell Sorrow’s tooth doth never rankle more Than when he bites but lanceth not the sore. 266 foil thin metal leaf set behind gems to show off their luster; hence, that which sets something off to advantage 269 remember remind. a deal of world a great distance 272 passages wanderings, experiences 273 Having my freedom (1) having completed my apprenticeship (2) having been allowed to return home 274 journeyman (Literally, one who labors for day wages as a fully qualified craftsman—with a hint also of one who makes a journey. Bolingbroke will be proficient only in grief.) 275 the eye of heaven the sun 280 But . . . King i.e., but suppose that you are banishing the King to the moral wilderness his crimes deserve. 280–1 Woe . . . borne Woe is all the more oppressive when it perceives that the sufferer is fainthearted. 282 purchase acquire, win 286 Look what Whatever 289 the presence strewed the royal presence chamber strewn with rushes 291 measure stately, formal dance 292 gnarling snarling, growling 293 sets it light regards it lightly. 295 Caucasus mountain range between the Black and Caspian seas. 299 fantastic imagined 302 Fell Fierce. rankle cause irritation and festering 303 lanceth not does not open the wound (to permit the release of the infection; Bolingbroke’s point is that sorrow should be openly confronted, not rationalized or covered over and thus allowed to fester) 304 305 BOLINGBROKE 269 272 273 Then, England’s ground, farewell. Sweet soil, adieu, My mother and my nurse that bears me yet! Where’er I wander, boast of this I can: Though banished, yet a trueborn Englishman. Exeunt. ✤ 274 GAUNT All places that the eye of heaven visits Are to a wise man ports and happy havens. Teach thy necessity to reason thus: There is no virtue like necessity. Think not the King did banish thee, But thou the King. Woe doth the heavier sit Where it perceives it is but faintly borne. Go, say I sent thee forth to purchase honor, And not the King exiled thee; or suppose Devouring pestilence hangs in our air And thou art flying to a fresher clime. Look what thy soul holds dear, imagine it To lie that way thou goest, not whence thou com’st. Suppose the singing birds musicians, The grass whereon thou tread’st the presence strewed, The flowers fair ladies, and thy steps no more Than a delightful measure or a dance; For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite The man that mocks at it and sets it light. GAUNT Come, come, my son, I’ll bring thee on thy way. Had I thy youth and cause, I would not stay. BOLINGBROKE Nay, rather every tedious stride I make Will but remember me what a deal of world I wander from the jewels that I love. Must I not serve a long apprenticehood To foreign passages, and in the end, Having my freedom, boast of nothing else But that I was a journeyman to grief? 339 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 1.4 275 S M 280 281 I 282 T H 286 , 289 J 292 O 293 S H 295 U A 291 299 6 8 9 0 B U 302 303 [1.4] Enter the King, with Bagot, [Green,] etc. at one door, and the Lord Aumerle at another. KING RICHARD We did observe.—Cousin Aumerle, How far brought you high Hereford on his way? 1 AUMERLE I brought high Hereford, if you call him so, But to the next highway, and there I left him. 4 KING RICHARD And say, what store of parting tears were shed? AUMERLE Faith, none for me, except the northeast wind, Which then blew bitterly against our faces, Awaked the sleeping rheum and so by chance Did grace our hollow parting with a tear. 6 8 9 KING RICHARD What said our cousin when you parted with him? “Farewell!” And, for my heart disdainèd that my tongue Should so profane the word, that taught me craft To counterfeit oppression of such grief That words seemed buried in my sorrow’s grave. Marry, would the word “farewell” have lengthened hours And added years to his short banishment, He should have had a volume of farewells; But since it would not, he had none of me. AUMERLE 12 13 16 19 KING RICHARD He is our cousin, cousin; but ‘tis doubt, When time shall call him home from banishment, Whether our kinsman come to see his friends. Ourself and Bushy, Bagot here, and Green Observed his courtship to the common people, How he did seem to dive into their hearts With humble and familiar courtesy, What reverence he did throw away on slaves, Wooing poor craftsmen with the craft of smiles 304 bring escort 305 stay linger. 1.4. Location: The court. 1 We did observe (The scene begins in the midst of a conversation.) 4 next nearest 6 for me on my part. except except that 8 rheum watery discharge (i.e., tears) 9 hollow insincere 12 for because 13 that i.e., my disdain. (Aumerle says he pretended to be overcome by grief in order to avoid saying an insincere “Farewell” to Bolingbroke.) 16 Marry Indeed. (From the oath, “by the Virgin Mary.”) 19 of from 22 friends kinsmen, i.e., us, his cousins. The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 22 340 603–639 • 640–676 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 1.4 And patient underbearing of his fortune, As ‘twere to banish their affects with him. Off goes his bonnet to an oyster wench; A brace of draymen bid God speed him well And had the tribute of his supple knee, With “Thanks, my countrymen, my loving friends,” As were our England in reversion his, And he our subjects’ next degree in hope. 29 30 [2.1] Enter John of Gaunt sick, with the Duke of York, etc. 32 GAUNT Will the King come, that I may breathe my last In wholesome counsel to his unstaid youth? 35 36 GREEN Well, he is gone, and with him go these thoughts. Now for the rebels which stand out in Ireland, Expedient manage must be made, my liege, Ere further leisure yield them further means For their advantage and Your Highness’ loss. 39 KING RICHARD We will ourself in person to this war. And, for our coffers with too great a court And liberal largess are grown somewhat light, We are enforced to farm our royal realm, The revenue whereof shall furnish us For our affairs in hand. If that come short, Our substitutes at home shall have blank charters, Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich, They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold And send them after to supply our wants; For we will make for Ireland presently. 43 44 45 48 50 51 Bushy, what news? BUSHY 58 KING RICHARD Now put it, God, in the physician’s mind To help him to his grave immediately! The lining of his coffers shall make coats To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars. Come, gentlemen, let’s all go visit him. Pray God we may make haste and come too late! ALL Amen. Exeunt. ✤ 29 underbearing bearing, endurance 30 banish . . . him take their affections with him into banishment. 32 brace of draymen pair of cart drivers 35 As . . . his i.e., as if my England were to revert to him as true owner after my death 36 our . . . hope i.e., the heir presumptive to the throne and favorite choice of the people. 37 go let go 38 for as for. stand out hold out, resist 39 Expedient manage speedy arrangements 43 for because. too great a court i.e., too great an extravagance at court 44 liberal largess extravagant generosity (to courtiers) 45 farm lease the right of collecting taxes, for a present cash payment, to the highest bidder 48 substitutes deputies. blank charters writs authorizing the collection of revenues or forced loans to the crown, blank spaces being left for the names of the parties and the sums they were to provide 50 subscribe them put down their names 51 them i.e., the sums collected 52 presently at once. 58 Ely House (Palace of the Bishop of Ely in Holborn, a London district.) 61 lining contents. (With pun on lining for coats.) coats coats of mail, armor 61 3 GAUNT Oh, but they say the tongues of dying men Enforce attention like deep harmony. Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain, For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain. He that no more must say is listened more Than they whom youth and ease have taught to glose. More are men’s ends marked than their lives before. The setting sun, and music at the close, As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last, Writ in remembrance more than things long past. Though Richard my life’s counsel would not hear, My death’s sad tale may yet undeaf his ear. S M I T H , YORK 52 Enter Bushy. Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord, Suddenly taken, and hath sent posthaste To entreat Your Majesty to visit him. KING RICHARD Where lies he? BUSHY At Ely House. Vex not yourself, nor strive not with your breath, For all in vain comes counsel to his ear. 37 38 2 YORK J O S H U A No, it is stopped with other, flattering sounds, As praises, of whose taste the wise are fond; Lascivious meters, to whose venom sound The open ear of youth doth always listen; Report of fashions in proud Italy, Whose manners still our tardy-apish nation Limps after in base imitation. Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity— So it be new, there’s no respect how vile— That is not quickly buzzed into his ears? Then all too late comes counsel to be heard Where will doth mutiny with wit’s regard. Direct not him whose way himself will choose. ’Tis breath thou lack’st, and that breath wilt thou lose. 6G A U N T Methinks I am a prophet new inspired, 8 And thus expiring do foretell of him: His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last, 9 For violent fires soon burn out themselves; 0 Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short; B 2.1. Location: Ely House. U0.1 Enter John of Gaunt sick (Presumably he is carried in by servants in 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 18 19 21 22 25 28 29 33 a chair.) 2 unstaid uncontrolled 3 strive . . . breath i.e., don’t waste your breath 8 they those persons 9 He . . . listened more He who will soon be silenced by death is listened to more 10 glose flatter, deceive in speech. 11 marked noticed 13 is sweetest last is longest remembered as sweet 14 Writ in remembrance written down in the memory 15 my life’s counsel my advice while I lived 16 My . . . tale my grave dying speech 18 As . . . fond such as praises, which even wise men are foolishly inclined to hear 19 meters verses. venom poisonous 21 proud Italy (Roger Ascham, John Lyly, and other sixteenth-century writers complained of the growing influence of Italian luxury.) 22 still always. tardy-apish imitative but behind the times 25 So so long as. there’s no respect it makes no difference 28 Where . . . regard where natural inclination rebels against what reason esteems. 29 Direct . . . choose Don’t try to offer advice to one who insists on going his own way. 33 riot profligacy The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 677–720 • 721–753 He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes; With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder; Light vanity, insatiate cormorant, Consuming means, soon preys upon itself. This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands, This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, Feared by their breed and famous by their birth, Renownèd for their deeds as far from home For Christian service and true chivalry As is the sepulcher in stubborn Jewry Of the world’s ransom, blessèd Mary’s son, This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land, Dear for her reputation through the world, Is now leased out—I die pronouncing it— Like to a tenement or pelting farm. England, bound in with the triumphant sea, Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege Of wat’ry Neptune, is now bound in with shame, With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds. That England that was wont to conquer others Hath made a shameful conquest of itself. Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life, How happy then were my ensuing death! Enter King [Richard] and Queen, [Aumerle, Bushy, Green, Bagot, Ross, and Willoughby,] etc. 36 38 39 41 QUEEN How fares our noble uncle Lancaster? KING RICHARD What comfort, man? How is’t with agèd Gaunt? GAUNT Oh, how that name befits my composition! Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being old. Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast, And who abstains from meat that is not gaunt? For sleeping England long time have I watched; 36 betimes soon, early 38 Light vanity frivolous dissipation. cormorant glutton. (Literally, a voracious seabird.) 39 means i.e., means of sustenance 41 earth of majesty land fit for kings. seat of Mars residence of the god of war 44 infection (1) plague (2) moral pollution 45 happy breed fortunate race 47 office function 51 teeming fruitful 52 by their breed for their ancestral reputation for prowess 55 stubborn Jewry i.e., Judea, called stubborn because it resisted Christianity 60 tenement land or property held by a tenant. pelting paltry 61 bound in bordered, surrounded 63 bound in legally constrained 64 blots . . . bonds i.e., the blank charters. 68 ensuing approaching 73 composition constitution. 76 meat food 77 watched kept watch at night, been vigilant Watching breeds leanness, leanness is all gaunt. The pleasure that some fathers feed upon Is my strict fast—I mean, my children’s looks— And, therein fasting, hast thou made me gaunt. Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave, Whose hollow womb inherits naught but bones. 80 81 83 KING RICHARD Can sick men play so nicely with their names? 44 45 47 84 GAUNT No, misery makes sport to mock itself. Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me, I mock my name, great King, to flatter thee. 85 86 87 KING RICHARD S 51 M 52 I 55 T H , 60 61 J 64 O S H 68 U A 63 YORK The King is come. Deal mildly with his youth, For young hot colts being reined do rage the more. 341 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 2.1 6 8 9 0 73 B 76 U 77 Should dying men flatter with those that live? 88 GAUNT No, no, men living flatter those that die. 89 KING RICHARD Thou, now a-dying, sayest thou flatterest me. GAUNT Oh, no, thou diest, though I the sicker be. KING RICHARD I am in health, I breathe, and see thee ill. GAUNT Now He that made me knows I see thee ill; Ill in myself to see, and in thee seeing ill. Thy deathbed is no lesser than thy land, Wherein thou liest in reputation sick; And thou, too careless patient as thou art, Commit’st thy anointed body to the cure Of those physicians that first wounded thee. A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown, Whose compass is no bigger than thy head, And yet, encagèd in so small a verge, The waste is no whit lesser than thy land. Oh, had thy grandsire with a prophet’s eye Seen how his son’s son should destroy his sons, From forth thy reach he would have laid thy shame, Deposing thee before thou wert possessed, Which art possessed now to depose thyself. Why, cousin, wert thou regent of the world, It were a shame to let this land by lease; 80 Is . . . fast is something I must forgo 81 therein fasting i.e., since I am starved of that pleasure 83 inherits possesses, will receive 84 nicely (1) ingeniously (2) triflingly 85 to mock of mocking 86–7 Since . . . thee Since you seek to destroy my family name (by banishing my son), I mock my name to please you and flatter your greatness. 88 flatter with try to please 89 flatter i.e., are attentive to, offer comfort to 94 Ill . . . ill seeing myself to be physically ill, and seeing the illness in you of abusing your royal authority. 99 physicians i.e., the King’s favorites 101 compass circle, circumference 102 verge (1) circle, ring (2) the compass about the King’s court, which extended for twelve miles 103 waste (1) waist, circumference (2) that which is destroyed. (With a quibble on the legal meaning of waste, “damage done to property by a tenant.”) whit bit, speck 104 grandsire i.e., Edward III 105 destroy his sons (1) destroy Edward III’s sons, Richard’s uncles (2) destroy Richard’s own heritage 106 From . . . shame he would have put the matter you have shamefully handled out of your reach 107 Deposing dispossessing. possessed put in possession of the crown 108 Which . . . thyself you who are now seized with an obsessive desire to give away your authority (by leasing the realm to favorites). 109 cousin kinsman, nephew. regent ruler The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 94 99 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 342 754–788 • 789–826 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 2.1 But, for thy world enjoying but this land, Is it not more than shame to shame it so? Landlord of England art thou now, not king. Thy state of law is bondslave to the law, And thou— KING RICHARD A lunatic lean-witted fool, Presuming on an ague’s privilege, Darest with thy frozen admonition Make pale our cheek, chasing the royal blood With fury from his native residence. Now, by my seat’s right royal majesty, Wert thou not brother to great Edward’s son, This tongue that runs so roundly in thy head Should run thy head from thy unreverent shoulders. 111 113 111 But . . . land i.e., but since you enjoy as your domain only this land of England (rather than the whole world) 113 Landlord i.e., One who leases out property 114 Thy . . . to the law i.e., Your legal status as King is now subservient to and at the mercy of the law governing contracts, such as blank charters 116 an ague’s privilege i.e., a sick person’s right to be testy 117 frozen (1) chilly (2) caused by a chill 119 his its 120 seat’s throne’s 121 great Edward’s son Edward the Black Prince, Richard’s father 122–3 runs . . . run runs on, talks . . . drive, chase 122 roundly unceremoniously, bluntly 123 unreverent irreverent, disrespectful 125 For that simply because 126 pelican (The pelican was thought to feed its ungrateful and murderous young with its own blood.) 127 tapped out drawn as from a tapped barrel. caroused gulped, quaffed. 129 Whom fair befall to whom may good come 131 thou respect’st not you care nothing about 132–4 Join . . . flower! May your unnatural behavior act in concert with my present illness and my advanced years to cut down my life like a too-long-withered flower! (Unkindness means both cruelty and behavior contrary to the natural bond that should exist in blood ties.) 135 die . . . thee i.e., may your shame live after you. 138 Love they Let them desire 139 sullens sullenness, melancholy 140 become suit 144 As i.e., as he would love. (But see the next note.) [Enter Northumberland.] My liege, old Gaunt commends him to Your Majesty. 117 KING RICHARD 119 N O RT H U M B E R L A N D What says he? 120 121 122 123 125 126 127 129 131 132 133 134 135 138 139 140 YORK I do beseech Your Majesty, impute his words To wayward sickliness and age in him. He loves you, on my life, and holds you dear As Harry Duke of Hereford, were he here. 145 N O RT H U M B E R L A N D 116 KING RICHARD And let them die that age and sullens have, For both hast thou, and both become the grave. Right, you say true. As Hereford’s love, so his; As theirs, so mine; and all be as it is. 114 GAUNT Oh, spare me not, my brother Edward’s son, For that I was his father Edward’s son! That blood already, like the pelican, Hast thou tapped out and drunkenly caroused. My brother Gloucester, plain well-meaning soul— Whom fair befall in heaven ‘mongst happy souls!— May be a precedent and witness good That thou respect’st not spilling Edward’s blood. Join with the present sickness that I have, And thy unkindness be like crooked age To crop at once a too-long-withered flower!— Live in thy shame, but die not shame with thee! These words hereafter thy tormentors be!— Convey me to my bed, then to my grave. Love they to live that love and honor have. Exit [borne off by his attendants]. KING RICHARD 144 Nay, nothing, all is said. His tongue is now a stringless instrument; Words, life, and all, old Lancaster hath spent. YORK Be York the next that must be bankrupt so! S Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe. KING RICHARD M The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he; time is spent, our pilgrimage must be. I His So much for that. Now for our Irish wars: must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns, T We Which live like venom where no venom else H But only they have privilege to live. And, for these great affairs do ask some charge, , Towards our assistance we do seize to us The plate, coin, revenues, and movables Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possessed. K JY O RHow long shall I be patient? Ah, how long O Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong? Not Gloucester’s death, nor Hereford’s banishment, S Nor Gaunt’s rebukes, nor England’s private wrongs, the prevention of poor Bolingbroke H Nor About his marriage, nor my own disgrace, ever made me sour my patient cheek U Have Or bend one wrinkle on my sovereign’s face. A I am the last of noble Edward’s sons, Of whom thy father, Prince of Wales, was first. In war was never lion raged more fierce, In peace was never gentle lamb more mild, Than was that young and princely gentleman. His face thou hast, for even so looked he, Accomplished with the number of thy hours; But when he frowned, it was against the French And not against his friends. His noble hand 6 8 9 0 B145 Right . . . his (Richard deliberately takes the opposite of what York had intended to say; Richard gibes that Gaunt is as little fond of Uthe King as is Hereford.) 152 Though . . . woe Though death is the 152 154 156 157 158 159 161 166 167 168 170 173 177 privation of life, it does end the misery of human existence which is itself a kind of death in life. 154 our . . . be i.e., our journey through life is yet to be completed but will also end. 156–8 We . . . live We must expel these shaggy-haired light-armed Irish foot soldiers, who live there like poisonous snakes where no others are allowed to exist. (Richard alludes to the freedom of Ireland from snakes, traditionally ascribed to Saint Patrick.) 159 for because. ask some charge require some expenditure 161 movables personal property 166 Nor . . . wrongs nor the rebukes given to Gaunt, nor wrongs inflicted on private English subjects 167–8 prevention . . . marriage (Holinshed’s Chronicles report that Richard had forestalled Bolingbroke’s intended marriage with the Duke de Berri’s daughter.) 170 Or bend . . . face or ever frown at the King, or give him reason to frown. 173 was . . . fierce never was there a lion more fiercely enraged 177 Accomplished . . . hours i.e., when he was your age The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 827–869 • 870–906 Did win what he did spend, and spent not that Which his triumphant father’s hand had won. His hands were guilty of no kindred blood, But bloody with the enemies of his kin. Oh, Richard! York is too far gone with grief, Or else he never would compare between. 182 Come on, our queen. Tomorrow must we part. Be merry, for our time of stay is short. [Flourish.] Exeunt King and Queen [with attendants]. Manet Northumberland [with Willoughby and Ross]. 223 N O RT H U M B E R L A N D 185 Well, lords, the Duke of Lancaster is dead. ROSS KING RICHARD And living too, for now his son is duke. Why, uncle, what’s the matter? O my liege, Pardon me, if you please; if not, I, pleased Not to be pardoned, am content withal. Seek you to seize and grip into your hands The royalties and rights of banished Hereford? Is not Gaunt dead? And doth not Hereford live? Was not Gaunt just? And is not Harry true? Did not the one deserve to have an heir? Is not his heir a well-deserving son? Take Hereford’s rights away, and take from Time His charters and his customary rights; Let not tomorrow then ensue today; Be not thyself; for how art thou a king But by fair sequence and succession? Now, afore God—God forbid I say true!— If you do wrongfully seize Hereford’s rights, Call in the letters patents that he hath By his attorneys general to sue His livery, and deny his offered homage, You pluck a thousand dangers on your head, You lose a thousand well-disposèd hearts, And prick my tender patience to those thoughts Which honor and allegiance cannot think. WILLOUGHBY YORK KING RICHARD Think what you will, we seize into our hands His plate, his goods, his money, and his lands. YORK I’ll not be by the while. My liege, farewell. What will ensue hereof there’s none can tell; But by bad courses may be understood That their events can never fall out good. 343 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 2.1 187 Barely in title, not in revenues. 188 N O RT H U M B E R L A N D 190 ROSS Richly in both, if justice had her right. S M 195 I 196 197 T H , 202 203 J O 207 S H U 211 A 204 My heart is great, but it must break with silence, Ere’t be disburdened with a liberal tongue. 228 229 N O RT H U M B E R L A N D Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne’er speak more That speaks thy words again to do thee harm! 230 WILLOUGHBY Tends that thou wouldst speak to the Duke of Hereford? If it be so, out with it boldly, man. Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him. 232 ROSS No good at all that I can do for him, Unless you call it good to pity him, Bereft and gelded of his patrimony. 237 N O RT H U M B E R L A N D Now, afore God, ’tis shame such wrongs are borne In him, a royal prince, and many more Of noble blood in this declining land. The King is not himself, but basely led By flatterers; and what they will inform Merely in hate ’gainst any of us all, That will the King severely prosecute ’Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs. 239 242 243 ROSS 213 Exit. KING RICHARD Go, Bushy, to the Earl of Wiltshire straight. Bid him repair to us to Ely House To see this business. Tomorrow next We will for Ireland, and ’tis time, I trow. And we create, in absence of ourself, Our uncle York Lord Governor of England, For he is just and always loved us well.— 214 6 8 216 217 9 218 0 B U 215 The commons hath he pilled with grievous taxes, And quite lost their hearts; the nobles hath he fined For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts. 246 WILLOUGHBY And daily new exactions are devised, As blanks, benevolences, and I wot not what. But what i’ God’s name doth become of this? 250 251 N O RT H U M B E R L A N D Wars hath not wasted it, for warred he hath not, But basely yielded upon compromise That which his noble ancestors achieved with blows. More hath he spent in peace than they in wars. ROSS 182 kindred blood blood of one’s relatives 185 compare between draw comparisons. 187 pleased satisfied 188 withal with that, nonetheless. 190 royalties privileges granted through the King and belonging, in this case, to a member of the royal family 195 Take . . . and take i.e., If you take . . . you take 196 His Time’s 197 ensue follow 202–4 Call . . . livery i.e., revoke the royal grant giving him the privilege to sue through his attorneys for possession of his inheritance 204 deny refuse. homage avowal of allegiance (by which ceremony Bolingbroke would be able legally to secure his inheritance) 207 prick i.e., incite 211 by nearby, present 213 by concerning. may it may 214 events outcomes 215 Earl of Wiltshire (The King’s Lord Treasurer and one of his notorious favorites.) 216 repair come 217 see see to. Tomorrow next Tomorrow 218 trow believe. The Earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm. 223.2 Manet He remains onstage 228 great i.e., great with sorrow 229 liberal unrestrained, freely speaking 230 ne’er speak more i.e., die 232 Tends . . . to Does what you wish to say concern 237 gelded i.e., deprived. (Literally, castrated.) 239 In him in his case, or, by him 242 inform charge, report as spies 243 Merely in hate out of pure hatred 246 pilled plundered 250 blanks blank charters. benevolences forced loans to the crown (not actually employed until considerably later, in 1473). wot know 251 this i.e., this unjustly collected revenue. 256 in farm on lease. The Necessary Shakespeare, Fourth Edition, by David Bevington. Published by Longman. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. 256 344 907–940 • 941–976 THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND: 2.1 WILLOUGHBY The King’s grown bankrupt, like a broken man. 257 N O RT H U M B E R L A N D Reproach and dissolution hangeth over him. ROSS He hath not money for these Irish wars, His burdenous taxations notwithstanding, But by the robbing of the banished Duke. Hold out my horse, and I will first be there. 265 266 267 268 269 270 WILLOUGHBY Nay, let us share thy thoughts, as thou dost ours. Be confident to speak, Northumberland. We three are bu...
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In Shakespeare King Richard II Act 2 scene 1, Gaunt brother to Duke of York compares
England to a garden in that in his younger years, it was a paradise, a heaven and a tranquil
country that now has been destroyed by Richard’s unfounded treacherous nature and surrounding
himself with flattering politicians and says that he, Richard won’t last in his reign because of the
misfortunes he has brought to the country. Several passages in the play also compare England as
a garden with the example of Act 3 scene 4, where gardeners provide a view of the greed, cruelty
and treacherous state England exists in. Shakespeare uses imagery to show the transition of
England from a peaceful country to a cruel world where the leaders use their power in whatever
way they want.
In his last speech, Richard is in a prison all alone and talks about his loneliness I the room
while on the outside there are lots of people. He compares his brain to his souls as male and
female respectively in the meaning that if the two were people they would breed to sire people
who would accompany him in the kind of immense loneliness he is going through at the
moment. I his speech, he also imagines and feels for those people who have suffered a great deal,
and under playing unhappy roles in being a king and a beggar at the same ...


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