The Tragedy of Richard II, by William Shakespeare, encompasses a speech by the lead character in Scene III, Act ii, which in turn encompasses a central aspect of Richard’s character-he believed fully in the concept that a King rules by Divine right (i.e., he saw himself as God’s agent). In the play, Richard is portrayed as an interesting but ineffective leader. He is overthrown by his uncles son and then Henry IV. He ends up being murdered while imprisoned. The following important themes from this speech will be related to other actions, incidents and dialogue within the play. They are as follows: when men allow their darker side to rule their spiritual side violence follows; the man who refuses to give in to the dark side is able to see those who have not rendering them powerless; those who do give in to the dark side end up being shamed and punished; no mortal can separate the Divine from the King.
The first them, when men allow their darker side to rule their spiritual side violence follows, is evidenced in the opening six lines of the speech. Richard is asking Aumerle a rhetorical question in a sense while bolstering courage and support because he is fighting in the name of the Lord. He begins by telling him that if men hide their eyes to what is wrong and sin, then chaos reigns, “When the searching eye of heaven is hid/Behind the globe, that lights the lower world,/Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen/In murders and in outrage boldly here,” (III, ii, 37-41).
We see a reversal of this theory but not with any change of its overall meaning when Richard faces Bolingbroke and Northumberland. He has decided to recant his status as God’s agent because he feels he has failed in his duties to his position. As such, like the men who give in to their dark side, he refuses to be any more merciful on himself. He has lost and will recant his Kingship because it is the right thing to do now, “All pomp and maj...