Seeing Richard II performed allowed me to pay attention to the interactions between the characters rather than just the words they speak; it put the characters in context of their relationships with one another. The two interactions that stood out to me the most were those between Richard and Mowbray at the beginning of the play, and Richard and Bolingbroke near the end. Richard, who has turned a blind eye to Gloucester’s murder (if not requested it), is forced to banish Mowbray in order to maintain a facade of justice. Mowbray, who acted under royal condonation, now faces condemnation that he cannot argue against without committing treason— merely suggesting that the king okayed the murder is a crime greater than killing a duke. If he claimed that Richard turned on him by banishing him, Mowbray would die— not only from admitting guilt, but from accusing Richard of plotting with him. So he is backed into a corner, banished by his inability to refute his sentence. As the play progresses, Bolingbroke is added to the list of Richard’s victims when his inheritance is usurped by the throne.
Richard’s final interaction with Bolingbroke parallels his interactions with Mowbray in the first act. When Richard’s title is stripped from him, he becomes powerless to speak out against the crown, just as Mowbray is, because doing so is treason. Richard’s land and goods are usurped while his back is turned, just as he stripped Bolingbroke from his inheritance. He is then covertly murdered in prison, with the intent of ridding the new king of a political threat, just as he had allowed Gloucester to die. Depicting Richard’s sins being visited upon his head in like kind shows that though he was king with a supposed divine authority backing his kingship, he is not exempt from divine punishment.
Having that parallel between what Richard had done and what was done to Richard also reflects on what kind of person Bolingbroke was. For instance, Richard, when Gloucester was killed, did not seem to have any remorse for his death. However, when Richard was killed, Bolingbroke showed immediate sorrow and regret. Very similar situations show the differences between two characters.
ReplyDeleteI really like your last paragraph about how Richard is forced to go through many of the things that he forced on his own subjects. I think it is incredibly ironic when he begs for mercy or when he gives a long monolog about how unjustly he has been treated. When you throw the divine kingship and who it belongs to into the mix, the situation becomes all the more complex.
ReplyDeleteI found that interesting as well. The interesting thing about Bolingbroke was that while he showed a lot of restraint he still took the crown. He was very hesitant about it, but at the end of the day his was the water bucket that was filling up. The question that I came out of the play with was was Bolingbroke really that much different than Richard?
ReplyDeleteI think that's a really interesting way of seeing that... how, in the end, everything that happened to Richard was basically the mirror of what he had done to someone else. And I agree, I understood more of Mowbray's plight watching the play then I did reading it. Poor guy!!
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