Richard II
Synopsis:
“Richard II was a king by
virtue of the divine right of kings and thus God's elected deputy. He is
intelligent but weak. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster is the king's uncle and
father of the king's rival,
Henry Bolingbroke.
The King banishes courtiers Mowbray for life and Bolingbroke for or ten years
which, showing outward mercy, he reduces to six after a vicious quarrel. The
King is happy to banish Bolingbroke as he fears that the young man's popularity
is a threat to his crown.
Richard wages is a war in Ireland but needs more funds. John of Gaunt is rich
and when he dies the king confiscates his property. Bolingbroke and many nobles
rebel against the King and Richard yields and Henry escorts him to London. His
loyal queen continues to support him and although the Bishop of Carlisle speaks
out against Henry and his claims to the crown he fails. The King signs a
confession and yields the throne. Henry orders him confined to the
Sir Pierce of Exton is Bolingbroke's hatchet man. When Bolingbroke, as the new
king, asks whether anyone will rid him of Richard, Exton assumes Bolingbroke
wants him dead. With two assistants, he kills the king, who dies bravely. Exton
reminds Henry that he wished him dead, Henry, full of guilt, banishes Exton.”
Analysis:
Shakespeare doesn’t change
the events or the sequence during the time Richard reigned, for twenty two
years, from 1377 to 1397 but he adds information or presents the characters in a
determined way to achieve an impact in the audience. For example, king Richard
is often referred to as a tyrant who lacks the ability to rule but he’s divinely
ordained king. These features seem to be “a combination of Tudor propaganda and
Machiavellian theories”.
A remarkable example of the
political Tudor thought is exemplified in the character of John of Gaunt who was
the uncle of the young prince and who had some expectations of influence in the
new kingship. He was a prominent figure in the English society during that time,
owing castles, forests and large amounts of money which had provided him with a
large amount of supporters who had the expectation of getting profit from that
situation and this is how he is described in the chronicles but in contrast, in
this play Shakespeare transforms him to a much more moral character who remains
faithful to the king and who defends Richard’s legitimacy due to his divine
right to rule defending patriotism
in many of his speeches and loyalty to the king. This loyalty to the king is
maintained even when Richard’s popularity descends because of his lack of
governing abilities and a climate of usurpation was taking place and even
despite many pressures Gaunt defends Richard’s divine right to the crown which
was the kind of political message the Tudors wanted to spread with the aim to
keep a strong government.
The language of Richard is
very poetic but it is so only when he refers to the indignities he suffers
during his kingship despite of being a divinely ordained king and how terrible
it is to plan the usurpation of an alleged king. As Amanda Mabillard says in her
article Representations of
Kingship and Power in Shakespeare's Second Tetralogy
“Another addition Shakespeare’s makes to the drama not found in the sources is a
speech given by Richard. Richard’s brief initial confidence before Salisbury
brings the news that his men have joined Bolingbroke is mentioned briefly in
Holinshed. However, the speech Richard gives is created by Shakespeare, and
further illustrates Richard’s divine right”:
[Bolingbroke’s]
treasons will sit blushing on his face,
Not able
to endure the sight of day,
But
self-affrighted tremble at his sin.
Not all
the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash
the balm off from an anointed king.(III. ii. 51-55)
In this
article the author has compared the way Shakespeare changes some of the
information found in the chronicles of
Holinshed and
Froistart, which served
as a source
for Shakespeare.
In the
play, Bolingbroke, the son of Gaunt, is banished by Richard which, taking into
account the theories of Maquiavelo,
is a big mistake as Bolingbroke is an influent and loved person among the people
and according to Maquiavelo this is one of the biggest mistakes a ruler can
make.
In this passage we can see
the real motives behind the banishment of Bolingbroke, which can be interpreted
as jellousy:
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 here, Bagot and Green,
Observ’d his courtship to the common people—
How he did seem to dive into their hearts
With humble and familiar courtesy; . . .
As were our England in reversion his,
And he our subjects’ next degree in hope. (I.iv.19-36)
Richard hasn’t done anything
in order to gain the support of his citizens and with the banishment of
Bolingbroke,
Richard only achieves the rejection of the public and his attitude causes a
bigger support to Bolingbroke.
This is an example of how
the personal decisions of Richard affect the way he governs. Below there is a
passage in which Shakespeare elaborates a discourse explaining the reasons how
Bolingbroke has gained the support of the 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 craftsman with the craft of smiles
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. . .(I.iv.25-33)
Another important moment is
after Gaunt’s death, Richard takes all Bolingbroke’s properties, a mistake that
would cost him the crown.
The problem is that Richard
had spent too much money in living and then he made people pay a lot of money
for a long time which increased the amount of money he had to ask for in order
to pay the second expedition to Ireland which was extremely expensive. According
to Maquiavelo, money is another subject that people normally use to mistrust a
ruler and below we can see the way Shakespeare reflects this fact:
Richard.
We will ourself in person to this war;
And, for
our coffers, with too great a court,
. . .We
are enforc’d to farme our royal realme,
The
revenue whereof shall furnish us
Our
affairs in hand. If that come short,
Our
substitutes at home shall have blank charters . . .
(I, iv,
41-48)
In conclusion, Shakespeare
through his language makes clear that Richard has the divine right to rule but
he doesn’t have the knowledge to rule properly. These are just some examples
which can illustrate the purposes of Shakespeare.
Sources:
Visited: 06 December 2008
http://www.williamshakespeare.netfirms.com/ricardo_ii.htm
Visited: 16 December 2008
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-king-richard-ii.htm
Visited: 15-December 2008
http://www.rhymezone.com/r/gwic.cgi?Word=_&Path=shakespeare/histories/kingrichardii/i_iv//
Visited 08- January 2009