Richard II

Richard II

Richard's concept of kingship

Richard II focuses on the ideas of Kingship by Shakespeare. He discusses selfishness and flattering by making use of rich language. This communicates the perils that must be avoided by the king to make certain his status as a king. Throughout the play, Richard keeps on escaping from his responsibilities that a king must perform. He presented himself ineffective and cruel. He lacked leadership and progression. Shakespeare compares Richard and Bolingbroke to accentuate wise judgment linked with the definition of a successful king (Goodman et al, 2012). Egoism

With the onset of the play, Shakespeare portrays Richard as ineffective and abortive. The first scene of Act I gives an idea about the Richard's egoism and selfishness at the time of the duel. His level of cruelty proves deadly to him. He does not respect anyone but praises himself. No one is as respectable and honorable in his eyes except his own self. Another incidence proves him to be egoistic when he does not confess to have guilt in the murder of Woodstock. Injustice

He considers himself above the law. Justice is completely denied in his rule, and the subjects find nowhere to go in the quest of justice. Character of Richard presents a personality which commands justice, but no rule applies on the king himself. He fails to figure out his role as a King of England and live up to the expectations of his subjects. This cannot be termed as negligence. Richard's concept of kingship prevents him to curb his subjects' rights and justice. A wise and a kind king uses his own discretion to impart law and maintains equality among his subjects. Richard does not show this quality.

Henry Bolingbroke

Henry Bolingbroke is a Richard's cousin. Lack of justice, egoism and vanity in Richard's rule make Richard tyrant and dictator. He loses his respect and as well as receives threats of losing the throne too. The potential threat he faces by his cousin Bolingbroke who was banished from the country.

He returns to home and gains popularity among Richards' kingdom. Furthermore, Bolingbroke claims to be the King of England. Being the son of John of Gaunt, he considers himself the lawful heir of the throne. He collects his supporters to overthrow Richard. The nobles are already depressed and dejected by the injustice of Richard. They secretly helped Bolingbroke to come to England and made plans to remove Richard II form the power.

When Richard comes back from the war of Ireland, Bolingbroke demands his captured land. With this, he also claims the power from Richard and calls himself Henry IV. He sent Richard to prison somewhere in the castle of Pomfret where he is murdered by one of the man of King Henry.

Bolingbroke is honest in claiming his thrown from Richard II. He has a motto that if someone can fight the rights, there is no need of discussion (Spaltro, 2005).

Disposition Scene

The disposition scene in the play is the one in which King Richard ...