Richard II

RICHARD THE SECOND TEXT RESPONSE ESSAY ‘Richard sees kingship as something inborn, Bolingbroke sees it as politics.’ Discuss. In the play Richard II, Shakespeare contends the need for alteration in the method of power from rule by divine right to rule by competency. Shakespeare authored the play during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who was deemed to be a flawed queen at the end of her rule. Certainly the play is an allegory and Richards’s crimes are in fact her crimes. Shakespeare first presents Richard as an arrogant, wasteful king who in the first act declares that he was not born to sue but to command. Shakespeare depicts England to be a Majestic Paradise that is deserving of a better king than Richard; who does not properly protect…

Shakespeare’s Richard II, Richard’s lengthy monologues as Henry Bolingbroke attempts to get him to revoke the thrown serve as a metaphor for the entire play. Lines 194 to 214, specifically, after Bolingbroke asks King Richard if he is “contented to resign the crown?” capture the complicated the relationship between the two men and the crown (4.1.193). Richard’s willingness to step down from the thrown is debatable through his reaction to Bolingbroke’s question. Bolingbroke’s claim to the thrown…

Richard I was born on September 8, 1157 to Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Even though Richard was born in Oxford and had an English king for a father, he saw France as his true home. He was the third of four legitimate sons sired by King Henry, and was much closer to his mother. It was well known that Richard had no chance of inheriting the crown. His older brother, Henry the Young King, was declared his father’s successor in 1156, a year before Richard was even born. In any case, Richard…

The King of Trials: Historical Trials in Richard II William Shakespeare's Richard II acts as an amalgamation of three forms of trial: trial by ordeal, trial by combat, and trial by jury. Presenting the trial by ordeal in the spirit of its original Latin iudicium Dei, meaning "the truth of God", King Richard II offers himself an extension of God-ruling through divine right-therefore, creating a variant of an ordeal in his banishment of Henry Bolingbroke (Bartlett 5). Further, Richard II…

To become a good human, one has to be self-aware that he or she has to take action in order to accomplish a task. In Richard II by William Shakespeare, King Richard went through many of these tasks in order to become a good human. He starts off as a king who takes advantage of his position and uses verbal dramatization by making long speeches. He experiences multiple regrettable events and as the play goes on, he soon realizes his humanity. Throughout the play, Richard transitions from being…

The consequence of Bolingbroke’s rebellion against Richard and stealing of the throne seems to be, on the surface, a great venture that has awarded Bolingbroke. The reality though, is that since Bolingbroke has wrongfully taken the throne and has risen up against Richard, there are prophecies which lead us to believe that Bolingbroke’s rule will not be smooth-running. It is prophesied by Carlisle “And if you crown him [Bolingbroke], let me prophesy/ The blood of English shall manure the ground/…

“Richard II”: Through “Richard II”, Shakespeare describes the transition from a medieval conception, the aristocracy, in which the King is seen as the “prince”, in the latin meaning of it: primus inter pares, first among equals. It can be stated that the king is a sort of an elevated duke, who people need for military purposes, for the necessity to be protected (Lecture 10/01). Thus, he is bound to the law: with the sign of the Magna Charta the aristocrats have forced the King to recognize the…

Shakespeare uses dreary diction, the personification of Death, and a break in the meter to present King Richard II’s epiphany about commonness of kings. In the beginning lines of Richard II’s monologue, Shakespeare integrates nouns such as “graves”, “executors”, and “deposed bodies” to create an introspective tone that centers around the concept of death. Shakespeare’s deliberate word choice emphasizes the importance of Richard II’s newfound understanding of death’s universality in his overall…

On the surface King Richard II seems a straightforward depiction of an unfit King’s steady stream towards being deposed. Shakespeare’s lack of favoritism gives a documentary point of view, yet commotional drama of a daytime soap opera. Shakespeare’s elegant style leaves some doubt for the reader to be ‘all in’ with Bolingbroke taking over despite his heroic attributes and the follies of Richard. The play opens with King Richard’s continuing follies: covers up his Gloucester’s assassination,…

In London was where Shakespeare got his beginning. By the 1590’s Shakespeare was managing an acting company in London. It was called The Lord Chamberlain’s men. While managing this company it became very popular, also Shakespeare began publishing and selling his work. By 1597 he had fifteen plays published and by 1599 Shakespeare and a few business built their own theater on the bank of the Thames River. They later named it The Globe (“Prezi 3”). Some of Shakespeare’s earlier plays include…