ENGL 4203/5583: Shakespeare: Histories and Comedies

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Study Guide 5: Richard II

 

Please note: Because of the frequent use of boldface in this study guide, please highlight your answers or insert them in color; do NOT put them in boldface.

 

Shakespeare’s History Plays

  1. The first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, known as the First Folio, was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death.  Into what three genres does the table of contents of the First Folio (reproduced on page 101 of The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed.) classify Shakespeare’s plays?

 

Alternative names for this genre: Histories are also known as history plays, chronicle history plays, and English history plays.

 

Content of history plays: Histories are based on English history in the four centuries prior to their composition.  

  1. What plays by Shakespeare portray historical events but are not classified as history plays (again, see page 101) because they do not concern English history of recent centuries?  How are these plays classified in the table of contents of the First Folio?

 

Sources of history plays: Histories are based on 16th-century history books called chronicles or chronicle histories.  These books are not objective by today’s historical standards but rather reflect an ideology known as the Tudor myth (see discussion below).

 

Impetus for creation of this genre:  The patriotic fervor following the English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 inspired the composition and performance of about 200 history plays from 1588 to 1603.   

 

Place of Shakespeare’s history plays among other plays of this genre: Most of the history plays written by Shakespeare’s contemporaries have been lost or are rarely read today.  An exception is Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II, which is still well known and has been made into a film. (Extra-credit viewing: Watch and respond to the film of Edward II.)   

 

Characteristics of history plays:   

·         History plays usually have loose, episodic plots that are unified primarily by their presentation of significant events from the reign of one monarch after whom the play is titled.

·         History plays drastically condense the events of many years into two- or three-hour productions.

·         History plays integrate scenes created by the imagination of the playwright (fiction) with scenes described in the chronicle history books (nonfiction that reflects the bias of the writers).   

·         History plays reflect the political ideology of the chronicle history books as well as the personal bias of the playwright.  

·         History plays have large casts of characters—often much larger than the casts of Shakespeare’s tragedies or comedies—and little depth of characterization for most of the characters.

·         History plays rely on the spectacle of portraying great battles and public ceremonies.

·         History plays may combine elements of tragedy and comedy or exhibit the traits of just one of these genres. In addition to being history plays, Shakespeare’s Richard II and Richard III are tragedies, and Henry IV, Part I, and Henry V are comedies.

 

 

  1. According to the table of contents of the First Folio (page 101), how many history plays did Shakespeare write? 

 

All but two of Shakespeare’s history plays belong to two tetralogies, each containing four plays.  (Just as a trilogy is a series of three related works, a tetralogy is a series of four related works.)    Shakespeare’s first tetralogy, written in 1590-91, covers events of 1422-85.  Learn in order the titles of the first tetralogy of Shakespeare’s history plays:

  • Henry VI, Part I (1H6)
  • Henry VI, Part II (2H6)
  • Henry VI, Part II (3H6)
  • Richard III (R3)

Shakespeare’s second tetralogy, written in 1595-99, covers events of 1398-1420.  Learn in order the titles of the second tetralogy of Shakespeare’s history plays:

  • Richard II (R2)
  • Henry IV, Part I (1H4)
  • Henry IV, Part II (2H4)
  • Henry V (H5)

Since the events of the second tetralogy occurred before the events of the first tetralogy, we are studying the second tetralogy first.  We will read all the plays of the second tetralogy except Henry IV, Part II. 

 

  1. Which two of Shakespeare’s history plays are not part of a tetralogy?
  2. When did Shakespeare write Richard II?

 

The Tudor Myth

Purpose of the Tudor myth:  Henry Tudor became King Henry VII in 1485 after he defeated Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth Field at the end of the Wars of the Roses.  Because Henry VII’s claim to the throne was weak, he needed to justify his kingship.

 

Seminal text of the Tudor myth: King Henry VII commissioned Polydore Vergil’s Anglica Historia (English History), which covers English political history from 1399 to 1485.  This book, which greatly influenced subsequent Tudor historians, attempted to legitimize Henry VII’s right to the throne.

 

Philosophy behind the Tudor myth:  The Tudor myth assumes that the events of history are guided by God (divine Providence) and that history reveals moral truths by which kings and their subjects should be governed.

 

Sources for Richard II:  All of Shakespeare’s sources for Richard II are based on the Tudor myth.  His two most important sources are Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles, a prose history, and Samuel Daniels’s First Four Books of the Civil Wars, a narrative poem. 

 

Degree of Shakespeare’s adherence to the Tudor myth in Richard II:  Although Shakespeare’s sources reflect the Tudor myth, Shakespeare’s history plays, including Richard II, are more complex:  In some ways they adhere to the ideology of the Tudor myth, and in other ways they deviate from it.

  1. In the Tudor myth, the deposition of Richard II in 1399 is seen as the “original sin” that eventually leads to the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century.  In Richard II, for example, the Bishop of Carlisle warns Bullingbrook that it would be a terrible crime for him to remove Richard from the throne (4.1.114-49). What prediction does Carlisle make?  How are his words consistent with the Tudor myth?
  2. In the Tudor myth, Richard II is a rightful king, and Bullingbrook is a usurper.  Therefore, one would expect to see Shakespeare depict Richard in a positive light and Bullingbrook in a negative light.  Is this the case in the play?
    1. In what ways is Richard depicted positively?  In what ways is Richard depicted negatively?  In his negative depiction of Richard, Shakespeare relies not on the Tudor myth but on another myth or tradition about Richard—that he was a frivolous king ruined by flatterers.  What evidence of this myth do you find in the play?
    2. In what ways is Bullingbrook depicted positively?  In what ways is Bullingbrook depicted negatively?
    3. In the first half of the play, which character, in your opinion, does the play present more sympathetically?  Support your answer.  How does this portrayal relate to the Tudor myth?
    4. In the last half of the play, which character, in your opinion, does the play present more sympathetically?  Support your answer.  How does this portrayal relate to the Tudor myth?
    5. In the play as a whole, does the play, in your opinion, present one of the two main characters more sympathetically than the other?  If so, which one?  Support your answer.  How does this portrayal relate to the Tudor myth?

 

Medieval Setting of the Play

Middle Ages (Medieval Period) in England: 449-1485        

Events of Richard II: 1398-1400

Renaissance (Early Modern Period) in England: 1485-1660 

Composition of Richard II: 1595

  1. During what period is Richard II set?  During what period was the play written and first performed?
  2. In medieval England, the king served as the ultimate judge.  In what scenes of Richard II does the king serve as judge? 
  3. In medieval England, kings did NOT claim to rule by “divine right.” In Renaissance England, however, the Tudor monarchs claimed to rule by divine right.  Extra-credit research or prior knowledge: What is meant by the divine right of kings?
  4. In Richard II, does Richard claim to rule by divine right?  What relevant information do you find in each of the following passages?  What other passages address this issue?
    1. Richard’s speech in 3.2.36-62
    2. Richard’s speech during the deposition scene in 4.1.201-22 
  5. The action in Richard II is said to be more formal and ceremonial than in any other Shakespearean play.  The play includes several ceremonies that were especially important in medieval England.  Where in the play is each of the following ceremonies enacted?  What formalities are involved in each of the following ceremonies?
    1. Challenge of an opponent
    2. Trial by combat
    3. Deposition of a ruler
  6. In this ceremonial play, Richard and Bullingbrook never have a violent clash and hardly have a verbal clash.  In what scenes between the two characters does formal ceremony take the place of real action?  How?
  7. In what scenes does Richard even grieve in a ceremonial way?  What is formal and ceremonial about his grieving?

 

Richard and Bullingbrook as Character Foils

  1. How do John of Gaunt’s words to Bullingbrook in 1.3.265-67 explain the concept of a foil?  (See the footnote for line 266.)
  2. The two main characters are foils in that they exhibit many contrasts that help us better understand both characters. 
    1. Which character is practical and realistic, like a politician?  Which character is artistic and idealistic, like an actor, poet, or orator?
    2. Which character is active and decisive?  Which character is passive, contemplative, and imaginative? 
    3. Which character is a man of few words?  Which character never seems to stop talking about himself?       
    4. Which character is known for efficiency and has excellent public relations?  Which character is known for misgovernment and has a bad reputation with the people?
    5. Which character is associated with steel, a newer, more efficient metal?  Which character is associated with gold, an ancient precious metal with few practical uses? To answer these two questions, see, for example, 3.2.59.  What other passages in the play associate one character with steel and the other with gold? 
    6. Which character has the cold calculation of Octavius Caesar in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra?  Which character has been called a dry run for (or early version of) Hamlet?  

 

Richard

  1. How does Richard respond to the illness (1.4.59-64) and death (2.1.153-62) of his uncle John of Gaunt?  What do Richard’s responses reveal about his character?
  2. What specific policies and actions cause Richard to lose the support of the people?  What are “blank charters” (1.4.48)?
  3. In the trial by combat scene at Coventry (1.3), what particularly capricious action does Richard take?  Why does he take this action?  Why does he take this action only after all the ceremonies have been performed?
  4. Richard reveals his egotism in many ways.
    1. What shows that Richard is especially susceptible to flatterers?  How does his relationship with flatterers relate to his egotism?
    2. Like Jesus, Richard dies at age 33.  Where in the play does Richard compare himself to Jesus?  How does Richard think he is like Jesus?
    3. In 3.2, what bad news does Richard receive?  How does Richard respond to this news?  How does his response reveal excessive self-involvement and self-pity?  How does his response also reveal his unwillingness to take decisive action?
    4. In 5.1, when Richard parts from his wife for what he knows will be the last time, what does he ask her to do when she goes to France?  How does this request reveal his egotism?
  5. How does York describe the scene (not depicted on stage) in which Richard is marched into London as the prisoner of Bullingbrook (5.2.1-41)?  How does this account create sympathy for Richard?
  6. How does Richard behave during his murder scene (5.5.105-19)?  How does this scene affect the audience’s sympathy for the character?

 

Bullingbrook

  1. According to Richard in 1.4.20-36, how does Bullingbrook act in public when he is on his way to exile?  What do these actions reveal about Bullingbrook’s character?
  2. What are Bullingbrook’s intentions when he returns from exile?  Does he come back to England only to claim his rightful inheritance, or does he intend to seize the throne from Richard?  Is he a strong, silent, decent politician, or is he a hypocritical schemer?  Why is it difficult to determine his intentions?
  3. What problem does Bullingbrook have with his son Prince Hal?  (This problem is central to the plot of the next play in this tetralogy, 1 Henry IV.)
  4. When and why does Bullingbrook (now King Henry IV) express feelings of guilt?  How does he want to expiate his guilt? 

 

Plot

The plot of Richard II concerns the fall of Richard and the rise of Bullingbrook. 

  1. What actions of Richard’s serve as a turning point in his fortunes, giving Bullingbrook a pretext to return to England and rendering Richard too weak to resist being overthrown?
  2. On what occasion does Salisbury compare Richard to a “shooting star” that falls to the earth (2.3.18-20)?
  3. At Flint Castle, why does Richard compare himself to “glist’ring Phaëton” (3.3.178)?  In this scene in the BBC video of this play, Richard slowly descends a long circular staircase in order to meet Bullingbrook.  How is this visual imagery in the video appropriate to the play?
  4. In the deposition scene, to what does Richard compare his descent and Bullingbrook’s ascent (4.1.184-89)?  How is this simile appropriate to the situation?  
  5. How is the audience’s sympathy for each of the two main characters inversely related to the character’s power? 
    1. When does Richard have the most power and get the least sympathy from the audience?  When does Richard have the least power and get the most sympathy?
    2. When does Bullingbrook have the least power and get the most sympathy from the audience?  When does Bullingbrook have the most power and get the least sympathy?

 

Images of Richard’s Misgovernment

Various image patterns throughout the play emphasize Richard’s misgovernment of England.  As you read the play, mark every instance you find of each of the following image patterns, and record as many as you can in your study guide.

1.      England under Richard is compared to an untended garden overrun with caterpillars.

a.       Bullingbrook refers to Bushy, Bagot, and other flatterers of Richard as “caterpillars of the commonwealth” (2.3.165-66).  How or why is this comparison appropriate?  How are the names Bushy, Bagot, and Green symbolic of an untended garden?

b.      What comparison do the gardener and his assistants draw between England and the garden they are tending (3.4)?  In what sense do they say their own work is futile?

c.       What other passages develop this image of England as an untended garden?

2.      England under Richard is compared to land that has been leased.

a.       How does John of Gaunt develop this metaphor in 2.1.57-70?

b.      How does John of Gaunt develop this metaphor in 2.1.110?

c.       What other passages develop this image?

3.      The crisis to which Richard has brought the country is marked by disruptions of nature.

a.       What disruptions in nature do Salisbury and the Welsh Captain note (2.4)?

b.      Are other disruptions in nature noted in the play?

 

Famous Lines and Speeches

  1. Mowbray’s farewell to the English language (1.3.159-73)
  2. John of Gaunt’s “this England” speech (2.1.40-68), including these lines:

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

. . . . . . . . . .

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England

  1. Richard’s speech of self-pity upon learning that he has no support, beginning with the lines, “For God’s sake let us sit upon the ground / And tell sad stories of the death of kings . . .” (3.2.155-56)
  2. Richard’s parting words to his wife, including “Tell thou the lamentable tale of me, / And send the hearers weeping to their beds” (5.1.44-45)
  3. Richard’s final soliloquy, including the line “I wasted time, and now doth time waste me” (5.5.19)