The Tragedy Of King Richard II
Richard II is the initial play in the second history tetralogy of Shakespeare which was written around 1595. The play is among a sequence of four plays that chronicles the house of Lancaster’s rise to the throne in Britain (Hoenselaars, 2004). Richard II, a stately and regal figure rose to the throne as a young chap but is extravagant in his spending habits, detached from his own country and its common individuals, and is also not wise in choosing his counselors. Both the king’s noblemen and the commoners decide that the king, Richard II, has gone too far when he seizes the money and lands of a much respected and recently deceased uncle in helping to fill his coffers and when he starts to rent out English land …show more content…
There is John of Gaunt’s highly significant speech initially in the scene which describes England as a garden. John of Gaunt, giving this speech at his deathbed, is hopeful that with his last breath, he would have the ability to offer the young King Richard some advice that he would listen to. He asks, "Will the king come that I may breathe my last / In wholesome counsel to his unstaid youth?" (Bevington, 2014)(2.1.1-2). With the acknowledgment that he probably sounds like a prophet in the Old Testament, he goes on to say that Richard is headed for doom: "His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last. / For violent fires soon burn out themselves" (Bevington, 2014)(2.1.33-34). Here, Gaunt warned Richard that the "fierce blaze of riot" that he had wrought all through the kingdom would, without doubt, end up consuming him as well. He expressed the belief that the actions of Richard were not beyond reprimand. Contrary to customary principle, King Richard could certainly reap what he sowed rather than hide behind the monarchical cover of infallibility. He goes on to state that the divinely favored, fertile, and beautiful nation of England had been leased out. "This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, / This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, / This other Eden, demi-paradise... / This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England / Is now leased out--I die pronouncing it-- / Like to a tenement or pelting farm" (Bevington, 2014)(2.1.40-60). Even though this part of speech initially begins with Gaunt pertaining to the glory of ‘mother’ England that was God-given with all her natural characteristics, he then reversed the imagery and spoke of the embarrassment that had been brought to
Richard II is the initial play in the second history tetralogy of Shakespeare which was written around 1595. The play is among a sequence of four plays that chronicles the house of Lancaster’s rise to the throne in Britain (Hoenselaars, 2004). Richard II, a stately and regal figure rose to the throne as a young chap but is extravagant in his spending habits, detached from his own country and its common individuals, and is also not wise in choosing his counselors. Both the king’s noblemen and the commoners decide that the king, Richard II, has gone too far when he seizes the money and lands of a much respected and recently deceased uncle in helping to fill his coffers and when he starts to rent out English land …show more content…
There is John of Gaunt’s highly significant speech initially in the scene which describes England as a garden. John of Gaunt, giving this speech at his deathbed, is hopeful that with his last breath, he would have the ability to offer the young King Richard some advice that he would listen to. He asks, "Will the king come that I may breathe my last / In wholesome counsel to his unstaid youth?" (Bevington, 2014)(2.1.1-2). With the acknowledgment that he probably sounds like a prophet in the Old Testament, he goes on to say that Richard is headed for doom: "His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last. / For violent fires soon burn out themselves" (Bevington, 2014)(2.1.33-34). Here, Gaunt warned Richard that the "fierce blaze of riot" that he had wrought all through the kingdom would, without doubt, end up consuming him as well. He expressed the belief that the actions of Richard were not beyond reprimand. Contrary to customary principle, King Richard could certainly reap what he sowed rather than hide behind the monarchical cover of infallibility. He goes on to state that the divinely favored, fertile, and beautiful nation of England had been leased out. "This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, / This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, / This other Eden, demi-paradise... / This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England / Is now leased out--I die pronouncing it-- / Like to a tenement or pelting farm" (Bevington, 2014)(2.1.40-60). Even though this part of speech initially begins with Gaunt pertaining to the glory of ‘mother’ England that was God-given with all her natural characteristics, he then reversed the imagery and spoke of the embarrassment that had been brought to