{"id":305,"date":"2024-04-14T06:22:44","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T13:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/?page_id=305"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:41:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T17:41:33","slug":"king-richard-ii-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/king-richard-ii-1\/","title":{"rendered":"King Richard II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Questions on
Shakespeare’s History Plays<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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HOME<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
OLLI<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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COMMENTARIES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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GUIDES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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ACT 1<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 2<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 3<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 4<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 5<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Shakespeare, William. The Life and Death of King Richard the Second.<\/em> Folio. (The Norton Shakespeare: Histories,<\/em> 3rd ed. 488-548.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1. In Act 1, Scene 1, what is the substance of the quarrel between Sir Thomas Mowbray (1st Duke of Norfolk) and Harry Bolingbroke (Duke of Hereford and later King Henry IV)? In sum, what accusations does Bolingbroke level against Mowbray?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. In Act 1, Scene 1, in what role does Bolingbroke\u2019s quarrel against Mowbray cast King Richard II? What seems to be Richard\u2019s attitude towards this affair, and why? (You may find it worthwhile to find out what you can about the relationship among these three men even before the quarrel.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. In Act 1, Scene 2, why is it difficult for John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, to take sides unambiguously in the quarrel that Richard is adjudicating between Mowbray and Bolingbroke, who is Gaunt\u2019s son? What restrains him from taking a more active role? With what failings does the widowed Duchess of Gloucester reproach Gaunt, and what effect does Gaunt\u2019s reply have on her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. In Act 1, Scene 3, how does King Richard decide the quarrel between Sir Thomas Mowbray and Harry Bolingbroke? What rationale underlies his decision to stop the imminent chivalric trial that he had already directed them to undergo when his mediation failed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. In Act 1, Scene 3, how does Richard treat his uncle John of Gaunt (Bolingbroke\u2019s illustrious father and a surviving son of King Edward III), and how, in Act 1, Scene 4, does he react to Gaunt\u2019s impending death from age and illness? For one thing, how does he plan to benefit from this great nobleman\u2019s passing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. In Act 1, Scene 3, what advice does John of Gaunt offer his son Harry Bolingbroke as the latter embarks upon several years of exile from England? How does Harry himself see the matter of his exile? Why might exile have been considered such a terrible punishment and burden in ancient and medieval times?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. In Act 1, Scene 4, what observations does King Richard make to his friends concerning Bolingbroke\u2019s style as a politician as he departs from England? In particular, what appears to be Bolingbroke\u2019s standing among the common people? Why would this be a matter of concern for Richard?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. With regard to Act 1 as a whole, what image does King Richard II, 30-year-old son of Edward the Black Prince and grandson of the mighty King Edward III, project as England\u2019s sovereign? Is he strong or weak? Wise or unwise? Decorous or indecorous? Tyrannical or observant of traditional rights and forms? How does this first scene establish what kind of king he is, in terms of his qualities and deficiencies?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

9. In Act 2, Scene 1, while talking on his deathbed with his brother the 1st Duke of York (Edmund of Langley), what ideal of England does John of Gaunt set forth? When his nephew King Richard enters, what accusations does the dying man level against him: as a feudal monarch, what failings and defects, according to Gaunt, has Richard shown? How does Richard respond to these charges?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. In Act 2, Scene 1, how does the Duke of York reinforce the charges Gaunt has already made against Richard? In particular, what does he say about the consequences of stealing a great aristocrat\u2019s inheritance from him, as Richard intends to do to Harry Bolingbroke? How seriously does Richard take the old Duke\u2019s counsel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. What does Northumberland, speaking with Willoughby and Ross after York\u2019s departure, add to this litany of flaws and mistakes to be attributed to Richard? How does the three men\u2019s conspiratorial intent take shape during this conversation? How does Northumberland describe the fast-moving rebellion centering on Bolingbroke\u2014what is the initial plan to oppose King Richard?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. In, Act 2, Scene 2, how do Richard\u2019s Queen (Isabella of Valois, m. 1396-99) and his favorites Bushy, Bagot, and Greene assess the King\u2019s chances of staving off Bolingbroke\u2019s invasion from France, ? What appears to be York\u2019s state of mind a this critical point in the play\u2014is he confident in his ability to \u201chold down the fort\u201d while Richard is in Ireland? Why are his loyalties divided between Richard and Bolingbroke?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. In Act 2, Scene 3, how does Harry Bolingbroke, having landed at Ravenspur in the south-eastern corner of Yorkshire, put his political skills to work in his dealings with the Percy clan (Northumberland, Percy, and Worcester) and with the ambivalent Duke of York, who is supposed to be guarding Richard\u2019s realm while the King is away? What narrative of Harry\u2019s purpose in returning from exile does Northumberland promote? Does that narrative impact York\u2019s decision to support the nephew he has called \u201ctraitor\u201d to his face, or would he most likely have switched sides anyway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. In Act 1, Scene 4, what perspective governs one of King Richard\u2019s captains? What does this officer tell Salisbury he has decided to do, and what reasons does he give for this decision? How does Salisbury sum up the King\u2019s plight? In what sense are observations such as Salisbury\u2019s and the Captain\u2019s characteristically medieval? (Consider, for example, references to disturbances in the heavens, and Richard\u2019s \u201cfall\u201d from a great height. Look up the Latin term de casibus virorum illustrium\u2014<\/em>how is it relevant here?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

15. In Act 3, Scene 1, what accusations does Bolingbroke level against Bushy and Green? How do these two men react to the charges leveled at them, and with what bearing do they go towards their deaths? How do the accusations Bolingbroke makes function to some extent as a self-justification for his current course of action? What is the present situation, the state of the invasion or rebellion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16. In the first eighty or so lines of Act 3, Scene 2, as King Richard lands on the coast of Wales, expecting to take up the fight with the rebels arrayed against him, how does he characterize and respond, by words and gestures, to his peril? What claims does he advance about the sacred powers of a monarch? How do Carlisle, Aumerle, and Scrope receive his gestures and grand claims? Fundamentally, how does Richard\u2019s eloquence in this scene only reinforce his unfitness to rule?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17. As Act 3, Scene 2 proceeds, bad news soon reaches critical mass, and the King\u2019s viability crumbles before his and others\u2019 eyes. How does Richard\u2019s eloquent speech from lines 139-72 (\u201cNo matter where \u2026.\u201d) demonstrate something fundamental about his character as a man? How does he categorize himself in line with his experience as a fallen monarch, and yet convey a genuine sense of intimacy with his surrounding supporters? How should we characterize his level of insight at this point in the play?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18. In Act 3, Scene 3, Bolingbroke and King Richard meet first through intermediaries and then directly. As this scene progresses, how is Bolingbroke forced to lay bare his real intentions with respect to Richard and the Crown? What role does Richard play in this process\u2014how does he force Bolingbroke to be honest about his demands? At the same time, by what words and actions does Bolingbroke show that he, <\/em>and not Richard, is really in charge here at Flint Castle and in the nation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19. In Act 3, Scene 4, what lesson does the Gardener impart to us about human nature and governance by means of his understanding of natural process and horticulture? What does Richard\u2019s Queen, who overhears the discourse, apparently think of the Gardener\u2019s view? Finally, from your own perspective, is this scene reassuring or disturbing? Either way, explain why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

20. In Act 4, Scene 1, Bolingbroke has already begun to take on the duties of kingship, though he is not yet king. What argument breaks out among Bagot, Fitzwalter, Percy, Surrey, and Aumerle? How does Bolingbroke react to the news that Norfolk (Thomas Mowbray) has died in Venice? What reasons does Bishop Carlisle give for opposing Bolingbroke\u2019s ascension as king, and what happens to the Bishop as a result? To what extent, if at all, does Bolingbroke\u2019s handling of these matters distinguish him from Richard II?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21. In Act 4, Scene 1, Bolingbroke requires that Richard abdicate the throne, which he does. What are his apparent expectations regarding Richard\u2019s performance in the spectacle he must now undergo, and how do Richard\u2019s words and conduct partly frustrate those expectations? In responding, consider the meaning of some of the key moments in Richard\u2019s abdication from lines 194-292, in which he insists that only he can properly un-king himself,  Richard reproaches himself for stepping down, wishes he could be \u201ca mockery king of snow,\u201d and shatters the mirror into which he has been gazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22. In Act 4, Scene 1, after his long, strange, yet compelling abdication of the throne, what one last \u201cboon\u201d does Richard ask of the victorious Bolingbroke? How do things stand at the end of this distressing scene? What do Aumerle, the Abbot, and Bishop Carlisle seem to have in mind for the near future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

23. In Act 5, Scene 1, how does Richard\u2019s Queen, Isabella of Valois, interpret what he has just done? Although the real person was only ten years old in 1399, Shakespeare has apparently fictionalized her as an adult, so in that capacity, how is she a fitting partner for the now-former king of England? How does Richard respond to Isabella\u2019s anguish\u2014what narrative does he urge her to tell about him when he is gone, and why? What warning does Richard offer Northumberland about the soon-to-be King Henry IV?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24. In Act 5, Scenes 2-3, after describing Richard\u2019s humiliating place in Henry IV\u2019s coronation procession, the Duke of York finds out that his own son Aumerle has pledged himself to a conspiracy against the new king. How does this episode play out? What elements of it tend towards comedy? How does the episode reflect on the relationship between the familial sphere and the realm of politics? How is it ironic that in Scene 3, we hear Bolingbroke\u2019s complaints about his<\/em> son \u201cHal,\u201d the Prince of Wales?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25. In Act 5, Scene 3, what are King Henry IV\u2019s scene-opening concerns about his son Harry, the Crown Prince? What has the Prince been doing while his father was hard at work winning a kingdom? How (according to Percy\u2019s report) did the Prince react to news of his father\u2019s coronation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26. In Act 5, Scene 5, what is the substance of the deposed Richard\u2019s reflections on his reign and fall? What has he learned from the disaster he has suffered \u2014do his reflections constitute something like \u201ctragic insight\u201d? Why or why not? (See 544-45, 5.5.1-66.) Also, in what manner does Richard meet his death\u2014do his actions restore to him some dignity? Explain with reference to 547, 5.5.99-119.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

27. By the end of Act 5, Scene 6, King Henry IV is filled with remorse for the way he has come by the throne. How, specifically (see Scene 4), did the new King\u2019s wishes lead to Richard\u2019s death? How does the news of the murder frustrate Henry\u2019s attempt to inaugurate a juster and more stable period of English governance? What pattern does Henry\u2019s reaction to Richard\u2019s death suggest for the rest of his reign?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edition.<\/strong>\u00a0Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors.\u00a0The Norton Shakespeare: Histories + Digital Edition.<\/em>\u00a03rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93859-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Document Timestamp: 9\/4\/2025 11:18 AM<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shakespeare, William. The Life and Death of King Richard the Second. Folio. (The Norton Shakespeare: Histories, 3rd ed. 488-548.) 1. 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