Richard II of England

exact date of birth is unknown, to a wealthy family in England. Like most women in the Middle Ages “Kempe did not know how to read or write, due to the gender barriers at the time. But over time she taught herself basic writing and reading skills” (Alchin). “She eventually got married at age twenty and had fourteen children” (Alchin) Her reason for having so many kids was crazy, even for the time. After giving birth to her first child “Kempe became mentally unstable. She would constantly get visions, nervous breakdowns, or just start wailing and crying for no particular reason” (Alchin). Since people did not know mental issues existed at the time, “Kempe said that these outbursts were caused by God sending her messages. She then took on a life of Christianity and continued to have children” (Alchin). Since Kempe was a woman, “she was heavily criticized for claiming to be a prophet of Christianity.” (Alchin) It also did not help that she needed to have sex and give birth to have visions. Throughout her life, “Kempe went on many religious pilgrimages and decided to document them in a book called “The Book of Margery Kempe”. That book became the first autobiography ever written in the English language, and is the one thing that people remember Kempe for”…

When Shakespeare wrote Henry IV, Part II, England faced issues of kingship, constitution, and rebellion. Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Elizabethans in the 1590s, undoubtedly had anxieties about the aging Queen Elizabeth I’s lack of an apparent heir, much like the anxieties surrounding Hal’s imminent succession to the throne. At the same time, Shakespeare presents to his audience a history play, dramatizes information, introduces fictional characters, and “mingling kings and clowns” on stage, and…

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…

redemption exist in Henry IV, Part 1, as its characters exist in the wake of the deposition and murder of Richard II. In the work, King Henry IV seeks expiation in a planned crusade, but neglects to abdicate the throne granted to him by his denial of divine right. Similarly, Hotspur seeks to atone for his rebellion against Richard…

though we know the other is there, we cannot simply find a middle ground. Rabkin starts his first section of the chapter by stating that Henry V is not as simple as just a rabbit-duck. Henry V is certainly very complex as it is the last part of a whole series of plays. Rabkin states that he thinks Shakespeare knew that this would develop into something much larger than just Richard II. Each play in the series seemed to solve the problems it had, but the problems would erupt in a new form as…

monologue where he says “Now, damn me, isn't that them all over! (He broods, face downturned) Miss? . . . He . . . Miss?---Miss me? . . . What's in me for him to miss? . . . (Suddenly he cries out like one who sees a danger at his very feet) Wo-AH! (Chuckling) We-e-eyup! (To audience) I nearly fell for it.”(Bolt 97). The monologue demonstrate how Matthew no longer trust Thomas More and think that he is being tricked by More to do labour for a lower price. In the like manner, later in the book,…

A new era in world history can usually be marked by some event that causes great social or political upheaval. In England between 1455 and 1487, a dynastic power struggle between two houses of the Plantagenet royal family marks the beginning of the English early modern period. This contention for the throne was known as the Wars of the Roses, and was a large factor in the end of feudalism in England. While most other major powers in Europe had already begun the transition into modernity, England…

Henry. Aware of this betrayal, Henry then proceeds to play a game with them. He starts by asking them what he should do with a prisoner who has committed treason, (the same crime committed but the three men). They each respond Henry should have no mercy for him, have him executed. Henry does the opposite of what they say leaving them in confusing and frustration, as to why he would not abide the law. Henry V wants them to admit that if this crime is committed the punishment is death. In a sense,…

having Scrope executed, since Scrope was plotting to kill him, Henry's merciless discipline of Bardolph is less justifiable, similar to his readiness to undermine the grisly murder of the offspring of Harfleur with a specific end goal to influence the senator to surrender. Henry discusses favoring peace, yet once his brain is settled on a strategy, he will overlook and even make enormous and ridiculous viciousness with a specific end goal to accomplish his objective (Woodcock, and Nicolas, 47) …

to the Duchess of Gloucester that he refuses to exact revenge against Richard, even though Richard is probably behind the murder of his brother and her husband Gloucester, because Gaunt still believes that Richard was appointed to the kingship by God; in taking action against Richard, Gaunt would be committing treason against both the monarchy and God. Having been told that he was chosen by God to become king since he was a young boy, Richard has not been the best at keeping himself…