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King Richard II, at the beginning of the play, is the all-powerful English king, to whom his subjects owe complete allegiance. Richard knows how to play this role well, and he comes across in the early ceremonial scenes involving the quarrel between Bolingbroke and Mowbray as fully in control and able to wield regal power effectively. He also appears neutral in the dispute and at least makes a show of trying to reach a peaceful resolution.
However, a different picture of Richard soon emerges when he speaks in private to his favorites and when others in the nobility speak about him. It turns out that he has little judgment or wisdom when it comes to managing the kingdom. He overtaxes the citizens in order to fund his war in Ireland. He may have some responsibility in the death of the Duke of Gloucester. He chooses advisers poorly and Northumberland calls him a “most degenerate king!” (2.1.262). He acts rashly, irresponsibly, and illegally when on the death of his uncle, Gaunt, he seizes Gaunt’s wealth and thus denies Gaunt’s son Bolingbroke his inheritance. This is a colossal misjudgment on Richard’s part, the product of arrogance and avarice, and it leads directly to his overthrow.
When Richard loses power, he reveals yet another side of his personality: A capacity to reflect on his experience and the state of his mind and heart that could not have been anticipated based on the persona he presents in the early part of the play. He also reveals a self-dramatizing skill and gift for articulating his own predicament. Essentially powerless, he nonetheless verbally dominates the scenes in which he and Bolingbroke appear.
Richard’s arc explores the problem of kingly legitimacy and his own sense of self. While his overweening behavior and mismanagement of the kingdom kindle rebellion against his throne, even his detractors sometimes waver in reconciling themselves to Bolingbroke’s usurpation. Richard himself, in his various speeches, uses The Crisis of Identity he experiences to reflect on the nature of kingship itself: He questions how someone supposedly anointed as a ruler by God himself could be overthrown by his mortal subjects, and he foretells that Bolingbroke will soon have to wrestle with disloyal subjects as well. His murder at the play’s end suggests that further crisis is in store for England, with Bolingbroke, filled with guilt, vowing to go on a pilgrimage as penance.
Henry Bolingbroke is the Duke of Hereford and the son of John of Gaunt. Richard II is his cousin. At the play’s opening, Bolingbroke accuses Mowbray of treason and challenges him to trial by combat. Richard stops the process and exiles Mowbray for life and Bolingbroke for 10 years, which is soon commuted to six years. After the death of Gaunt, the king seizes his wealth and property, thus denying Bolingbroke his title and inheritance. Bolingbroke soon returns from exile to claim his rights, with many nobles flocking to his cause. Bolingbroke soon holds almost all political and military power and deposes Richard II. Bolingbroke then becomes King Henry IV.
Unlike Richard, Bolingbroke reveals little about his personal feelings. He is shrewd and practical and takes advantage of political events as they unfold. He does not lack courage to act decisively when the time is ripe. Richard suggests early on that Bolingbroke has ideas above his station, remarking upon his arrogance and his active courting of the public, thus foreshadowing Bolingbroke’s eventual seizure of power.
Bolingbroke’s actions often illustrate The Problem of Order and Legitimacy in matters of kingship. Although Bolingbroke initially says he returns only for his land and titles, he begins behaving like a monarch as soon as he lands, even executing summary justice against two of Richard’s supporters as if he were already the king. When he declares his willingness to be king in front of the Parliament, he originally does so on the pretext that Richard is willing to resign his crown voluntarily: Nevertheless, when Richard openly defies him and makes his reluctance plain, Bolingbroke holds firm and even tries to have Richard confess to crimes. This devious side to Bolingbroke’s behavior suggests that he may not be a more effective or selfless king in the long run than Richard has been, and that his own motives are more power-hungry than he is willing to let on. His guilt and stated intention to undergo a pilgrimage after Richard’s murder imply that Bolingbroke still feels ambivalent about his seizure of power, suggesting that England’s political crisis has not yet been resolved.
John of Gaunt is the Duke of Lancaster. He is Richard’s uncle, and Henry Bolingbroke’s father. Gaunt represents patriotic pride in England and the old order that has been in place since the accession of his father, Edward III, over 70 years earlier. Gaunt, however, is old and sick. He reluctantly assents to a collective decision to banish his son, but Richard takes four years off the sentence in deference to Gaunt’s grief.
Gaunt speaks openly on his deathbed about The Impact of Corruption and Opportunism, revealing the full extent of Richard’s mismanagement of his kingdom. When Richard visits him, Gaunt speaks bluntly to him about his corrupt rule. Referring to the “farming” of the realm, he says that Richard is “Landlord of England […] now, not king” (2.1.113), implying that Richard now governs as a tyrant bent on his own self-enrichment instead of caring for the common good of his people. Gaunt’s warnings foreshadow the crisis that will soon engulf Richard, ending his rule, but Richard fails to heed the warning: When Gaunt dies soon after, Richard immediately seizes his property, thus initiating Bolingbroke’s rebellion against the crown.
Edmund of Langley is the Duke of York. He is the uncle of both King Richard and Bolingbroke. His initial decision when Bolingbroke returns from exile is to remain loyal to Richard. When Richard goes to Ireland, he appoints York governor of England. York is confused, however, and does not really know what to do. He is duty-bound to support the king, but he knows that Richard has treated Bolingbroke unjustly. Eventually, when the tide turns inexorably toward Bolingbroke, York switches sides. Later, he denounces his own son as a traitor for joining a plot against the new king.
The Duke of Aumerle is York’s son, a cousin to Richard and Bolingbroke. Later he is known as the Earl of Rutland, a lower title. He is loyal to Richard and joins the plot against Henry IV. At the urging of his mother, the Duchess of York, however, he rushes to the king and asks for a pardon, which the king grants.
Thomas Mowbray is the Duke of Norfolk. Bolingbroke accuses him of treason and challenges him to trial by combat, which Mowbray accepts. This dispute is the inciting incident of the play, as it leads to Bolingbroke’s banishment and later disinheritance. Richard intervenes just before the combat begins, and he banishes them both, Mowbray for life. Mowbray dies in Venice about a year after his banishment.
Sir Henry Greene is a supporter of King Richard and advises him on policy. Along with Bushy, he is taken prisoner at Bristol Castle, and Bolingbroke sentences him to death. Like Bushy also, he speaks defiantly after the sentence is passed.
The Earl of Northumberland is upset by Richard’s mismanagement of the kingdom. He becomes an early supporter of Bolingbroke and is soon his staunchest and most trusted ally. At Flint Castle, it is Northumberland who deals directly with Richard, conveying to the king that Bolingbroke has come only for the restoration of his lands. Later, Northumberland arrests Carlisle for treason, and at Westminster Hall it is Northumberland who demands that Richard read out a list of the crimes he committed against the country. Northumberland is therefore much more decisive than the wavering Duke of York.
The Bishop of Carlisle supports King Richard and opposes the rebellion against him. When Richard is ready to give up, Carlisle urges him to fight. At Westminster Hall, when Bolingbroke says he will ascend the throne, Carlisle denounces the proceedings as illegitimate. He says that civil war will be the result. He is immediately arrested for treason. Later, Henry IV spares his life because he thinks Carlisle, even though he is an enemy, is an honorable man.
Sir Piers Exton is a supporter of Bolingbroke. He kills King Richard because he thinks that Bolingbroke, now Henry IV, wishes him to do so. The king, however, does not reward him for his deed.
The gardener, who has two servants, works in the garden of the Duke of York. As he instructs his assistants to tend to the garden, he tells them a political allegory, in which he compares the weeds that must be pulled up to the disorderly elements in the kingdom that must also be rooted out. His commentary reflects The Impact of Corruption and Opportunism in the play while also speaking to The Problem of Order and Legitimacy currently engulfing England.
The queen is Richard’s wife. Her name is Isabel, although this is not mentioned in the play. She comes from France. The queen is grief-stricken at being parted from Richard. She is further distressed when she hears of Bolingbroke’s return to England. Later, she overhears the gardeners talking about Richard’s downfall, and she speaks to her husband as he is being taken to the Tower. They bid each other a fond farewell. Bolingbroke has ordered her to return to France, and Richard tells her to enter a nunnery there.
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By William Shakespeare