Hello all my literary friends! My name is Alyssa and I am from Versailles, Kentucky. Unfortunately, "Versailles" is meant to be pronounced phonetically with a Kentucky accent. This leaves one with a hearty Verrrr-sail-LLs, rather than with a soft ver-sehhh. As a reference, you can check this YouTube video.

Now that I've established my roots, I'll proceed with a short list of things I love:

• Running. I ran a marathon about two months ago... I hope to run an ultramarathon sometime in my life. 100 miles of sheer joy!
• Family. I love my three sisters and two parents. My mom was the one that helped me fall in love with reading. I got super swoll from all the heavy lifting.
• Nature. I love the smell of cut grass and pine in the morning.
• Reading. Duh. I just finished up The Road. It was fantastically dark and compelling--a dystopian novel like no other.

The theme that I noticed the most as I read through Richard II was that of Kingship. Shakespeare seemed to present a convoluted presentation of what “Kingship” really means, especially in regards to King Richard II. In Act one, Scene one, both Bolingbroke and Mowbray lavish praises on the King. Mowbray goes as far as to compare the king to something heavenly and God-like as he says, “Add an immortal title to your crown.” Though some players remark on the King’s divine majesty—especially towards the beginning of the play—most change their tune as they distance themselves from the King and revolt against his faults. Like in Act two, scene one where Northumberland remarks that they should, “Wipe off the dust that hides our scepter’s gilt, and make high majesty look like itself.” I thought that Shakespeare did a wonderful job at presenting a complex image of the reality of a King and his followers. The King lost the grace of a divinely appointed throne, but the perceived divinity of the throne was simply passed on to Bolingbroke.