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    Richard II
    Richard II
    Richard II
    Ebook161 pages1 hour

    Richard II

    By William Shakespeare

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    About this ebook

    King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's successors: Henry IV, part 1, Henry IV, part 2, and Henry V. It may not have been written as a stand-alone work.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMVP
    Release dateDec 12, 2018
    ISBN9782291061892
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright the world has seen. He produced an astonishing amount of work; 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. He died on 23rd April 1616, aged 52, and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.

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    Reviews for Richard II

    4/5

    548 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Tough one to rate: without knowing the historical background completely, most things that happen are a little opaque - which makes this particular edition a god-send. Richard's speeches, particularly in the second half, are brilliant.
    • 2/5
      The tragedy of this is that Shakespeare devoted a whole play to this milquetoast whiner. It would have been more effective, to me, had his story been included as a small part of the Henry IV plays. Neither a great hero or a great anti-hero, I just found the guy to be annoying as hell.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed Shakespeare's "Richard II." The play has a great plot that is paced well and the language is really accessible in this one. Richard II has quite a few great monologues that made this one a fun read.The play follows the final years of Richard II's reign before he was deposed and eventually killed. Richard makes a series of mistakes, that seem somewhat minor in nature, but together lead to his eventual downfall.
    • 4/5
      As usual, Shakespeare plays fast and loose with historical detail, relying on several sources for his play. Superficially, the play is about the struggle between Richard II and Henry Bolingbroke. Ultimately, though, I found this a complex and involving character study of a young, inexperienced king, that foreshadows elements of Henry V and many other of his plays.
    • 4/5
      I am reading Shakespeare's plays in chronological order.A cruel and childish king robs his nobles to engage in foreign wars. They rebel and depose him easily. He whines about it until he is assassinated. This doesn't sound promising, but it has Shakespeare's most moving poetry yet, and his first serious and largely successful attempt at creating a character with psychological depth. I found it a treat to read, and, like several of the plays I've read, I look forward to reading it again
    • 4/5
      Richard spends so much of this play depressed that you'd think he was in The Bell Jar. This play had three stars until "Go thou and fill another room in hell" made me change my pants.
    • 3/5
      This is one of Shakespeare's lesser known tragedies but it also became the first in the series that led to Henry V, et al. It is the tale of a king whose kingdom falls apart and who is eventually dethroned, imprisoned, and killed. It had political significance in its time, such that Elizabeth II compared herself to King Richard. For me, it was not an overwhelming work compared to his other plays.
    • 4/5
      The first of the Henriad plays, 'The Tragedy of Richard II' covers Richard II's "Jesus Year": The eponymous king was only 32- and 33-years old as the tragedy of his life played out, setting the stage for The War of the Roses. During his 22-year reign, he was spoiled, and he abused the royal prerogative, so his fate should be no surprise; but The Bard paints a portrait of a man who found his humanity before paying the ultimate price.
    • 1/5
      I'm not big into the history plays.
    • 3/5
      This is the first proper History I've read, and I'm not really sure I get it. There's probably a lot I'm missing by not having the cultural knowledge Shakespeare's audience had. The fourth act is really great, though - enough so that I like the play.

    Book preview

    Richard II - William Shakespeare

    Richard II

    Richard II

    William Shakespeare

     Copyright © 2018 by OPU

    All rights reserved.

    No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

    Act I

    SCENE I. London. KING RICHARD II's palace.

    Enter KING RICHARD II, JOHN OF GAUNT, with other Nobles and Attendants

    KING RICHARD II

    Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster,

    Hast thou, according to thy oath and band,

    Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son,

    Here to make good the boisterous late appeal,

    Which then our leisure would not let us hear,

    Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?

    JOHN OF GAUNT

    I have, my liege.

    KING RICHARD II

    Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him,

    If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;

    Or worthily, as a good subject should,

    On some known ground of treachery in him?

    JOHN OF GAUNT

    As near as I could sift him on that argument,

    On some apparent danger seen in him

    Aim'd at your highness, no inveterate malice.

    KING RICHARD II

    Then call them to our presence; face to face,

    And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear

    The accuser and the accused freely speak:

    High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire,

    In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.

    Enter HENRY BOLINGBROKE and THOMAS MOWBRAY

    HENRY BOLINGBROKE

    Many years of happy days befal

    My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege!

    THOMAS MOWBRAY

    Each day still better other's happiness;

    Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,

    Add an immortal title to your crown!

    KING RICHARD II

    We thank you both: yet one but flatters us,

    As well appeareth by the cause you come;

    Namely to appeal each other of high treason.

    Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object

    Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?

    HENRY BOLINGBROKE

    First, heaven be the record to my speech!

    In the devotion of a subject's love,

    Tendering the precious safety of my prince,

    And free from other misbegotten hate,

    Come I appellant to this princely presence.

    Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,

    And mark my greeting well; for what I speak

    My body shall make good upon this earth,

    Or my divine soul answer it in heaven.

    Thou art a traitor and a miscreant,

    Too good to be so and too bad to live,

    Since the more fair and crystal is the sky,

    The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.

    Once more, the more to aggravate the note,

    With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;

    And wish, so please my sovereign, ere I move,

    What my tongue speaks my right drawn sword may prove.

    THOMAS MOWBRAY

    Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal:

    'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,

    The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,

    Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain;

    The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this:

    Yet can I not of such tame patience boast

    As to be hush'd and nought at all to say:

    First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me

    From giving reins and spurs to my free speech;

    Which else would post until it had return'd

    These terms of treason doubled down his throat.

    Setting aside his high blood's royalty,

    And let him be no kinsman to my liege,

    I do defy him, and I spit at him;

    Call him a slanderous coward and a villain:

    Which to maintain I would allow him odds,

    And meet him, were I tied to run afoot

    Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,

    Or any other ground inhabitable,

    Where ever Englishman durst set his foot.

    Mean time let this defend my loyalty,

    By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.

    HENRY BOLINGBROKE

    Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,

    Disclaiming here the kindred of the king,

    And lay aside my high blood's royalty,

    Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.

    If guilty dread have left thee so much strength

    As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop:

    By that and all the rites of knighthood else,

    Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,

    What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.

    THOMAS MOWBRAY

    I take it up; and by that sword I swear

    Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,

    I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

    Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:

    And when I mount, alive may I not light,

    If I be traitor or unjustly fight!

    KING RICHARD II

    What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge?

    It must be great that can inherit us

    So much as of a thought of ill in him.

    HENRY BOLINGBROKE

    Look, what I speak, my life shall prove it true;

    That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles

    In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers,

    The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments,

    Like a false traitor and injurious villain.

    Besides I say and will in battle prove,

    Or here or elsewhere to the furthest verge

    That ever was survey'd by English eye,

    That all the treasons for these eighteen years

    Complotted and contrived in this land

    Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.

    Further I say and further will maintain

    Upon his bad life to make all this good,

    That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death,

    Suggest his soon-believing adversaries,

    And consequently, like a traitor coward,

    Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood:

    Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,

    Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,

    To me for justice and rough chastisement;

    And, by the glorious worth of my descent,

    This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

    KING RICHARD II

    How high a pitch his resolution soars!

    Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this?

    THOMAS MOWBRAY

    O, let my sovereign turn away his face

    And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

    Till I have told this slander of his blood,

    How God and good men hate so foul a liar.

    KING RICHARD II

    Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears:

    Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,

    As he is but my father's brother's son,

    Now, by my sceptre's awe, I make a vow,

    Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood

    Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize

    The unstooping firmness of my upright soul:

    He is our subject, Mowbray; so art thou:

    Free speech and fearless I to thee allow.

    THOMAS MOWBRAY

    Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,

    Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest.

    Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais

    Disbursed I duly to his highness' soldiers;

    The other part reserved I by consent,

    For that my sovereign liege was in my debt

    Upon remainder of a dear account,

    Since last I went to France to fetch his queen:

    Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester's death,

    I slew him not; but to my own disgrace

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