Richard II (play)
It begins with King Richard sitting majestically on his throne in full state, having been requested to arbitrate a dispute between the nobles Thomas Mowbray and Richard's cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who has accused Mowbray of high treason for stealing money that had been raised for the English army and of murdering Bolingbroke's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester.
The king's decision can be seen as the first mistake in a series leading eventually to his overthrow and death, since the error highlights many of his character flaws, including indecisiveness (in terms of whether to allow the duel to go ahead), abruptness (Richard waits until the last possible moment to cancel the duel), and arbitrariness (there is no apparent reason Bolingbroke should be allowed to return and Mowbray not).
This angers the nobility, who accuse Richard of wasting England's money, of illegally depriving John's heir Bolingbroke of his rightful inheritance to fund war in Ireland, of imposing unjust taxes on the commoners, and of enriching himself by fining the nobles for crimes their ancestors committed.
After misinterpreting King Henry's "living fear" as a reference to the still-living Richard, the ambitious Sir Piers Exton murders him in his cell to gain favour.
King Henry is appalled by the murder, dismisses Exton from his court, and vows a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to cleanse himself of his part in Richard's death.
In his final lines, Henry completes the tragic structure of the play by mourning over Richard's coffin and affording the deposed king forgiveness.
[2] Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Illustrious Families of Lancaster and York appears also to have been consulted,[3] and scholars have also supposed Shakespeare familiar with Samuel Daniel's poem on the civil wars.
This play, which exists in one incomplete manuscript copy (at the British Museum), is subtitled Thomas of Woodstock, and scholars since F. S. Boas have usually called it by that name.
[6] The play was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on 29 August 1597 by the bookseller Andrew Wise; he published the first quarto later that year, printed by Valentine Simmes.
Traditionally, it has been supposed that the quartos lack the deposition scene because of censorship, by either the playhouse or the Master of the Revels Edmund Tylney, and that the Folio version may better reflect Shakespeare's original intentions.
But there is no external evidence for this hypothesis, and the title page of the 1608 quarto refers to a "lately acted" deposition scene (although, again, this could be due to earlier censorship that was later relaxed).
[8] The literary critic Hugh M. Richmond notes that Richard's beliefs about the divine right of kings tend to fall more in line with the medieval view of the throne.
Bolingbroke, on the other hand, represents a more modern view of statecraft, arguing that not only bloodline but also intellect and political skill qualify a king.
Elliott argues that this conceited notion of his role ultimately leads to Richard's failure, adding that Bolingbroke's ability to relate and speak with the middle and lower classes allows him to take the throne.
Unusually for Shakespeare, Richard II is written entirely in verse, one of only four of his plays, the others being King John and the first and third parts of Henry VI.
[7] The play was performed and published late in the reign of Elizabeth I of England, at a time when the queen's advanced age made succession an important political concern.
By this agreement, reported at the trial of Essex by the Chamberlain's Men actor Augustine Phillips, the conspirators paid the company forty shillings "above the ordinary" (i.e., above their usual rate) to stage this play, which the players felt was too old and "out of use" to attract a large audience.
In the same historical report the Queen is said to have complained that the play was performed forty times in "open streets and houses" but there is no extant evidence to corroborate this tale.
At the coast of Wales, Richard has just returned from a trip to Ireland and kisses the soil of England, demonstrating his kingly attachment to his kingdom.
However, at Westminster the image of the divine kingship is supported by the Bishop of Carlisle rather than Richard, who at this point is becoming mentally unstable as his authority slips away.
Richard acts the part of a royal martyr, and due to the spilling of his blood, England continually undergoes civil war for the next two generations.
[17] Machiavelli wrote The Prince during a time of political chaos in Italy, and writes down a formula by which a leader can lead the country out of turmoil and return it to prosperity.
Bolingbroke seems to be a leader coming into power at a time England is in turmoil, and follows closely the formula stated by Machiavelli.
Also, Bolingbroke is highly concerned with the maintenance of legality to the kingdom, an important principle of Machiavellian philosophy, and therefore makes Richard surrender his crown and physical accessories to erase any doubt as to the real heir to the throne.
William Keeling acted Richard II aboard the British East India Company ship The Red Dragon, off Sierra Leone, but the authenticity of this record is doubted.
Lewis Theobald staged a successful and less troubled adaptation in 1719 at Lincoln's Inn Fields; Shakespeare's original version was revived at Covent Garden in 1738.
[24] Another legendary Richard was Maurice Evans, who first played the role at the Old Vic in 1934 and then created a sensation in his 1937 Broadway performance, revived it in New York in 1940 and then immortalised it on television for the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1954.
[25] In the 1968–1970 seasons of the Prospect Theatre Company, Ian McKellen made a breakthrough performance as Richard, opposite Timothy West as Bolingbroke.
[32] In summer 2012, BBC Two broadcast a filmed adaptation together with other plays in the Henriad under the series title The Hollow Crown with Ben Whishaw as Richard II.
