RICHARD II
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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 outr
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ch of III, ii, (46-54) when he makes reference to how Bolingbroke will come to see the error of his ways, ultimately unable to face the injustices he has committed, “So when this thief, when this traitor Bolingbroke,/Who all this while hath reveled in the night/Whilst we were wand’ring with the Antipodes,/Shall see us rising in our throne, the East,/His treasons will sit blushing in his face,/Not able to endure the sight of day,/But self-affrighted tremble at his sin.” (III, ii, 48-54).
This is in contrast to Richard’s sin (i.e., losing the throne) and the way he accepts it with dignity that is almost enough to have the barbarism directed against him have pity. For Richard has lost but the sin has been committed against he and his God and he will bear his losses and pain much more humbly, nobly and acceptingly than will Bolingbroke when he comes to his realizations of what he has done. This is because Richard did not strike out to cause harm, but, rather, like the God-King he feels he is, only struck back as in an eye-for-an-eye. Thus, his recognition of his failures enrich him in such a way as to almost make him seem more worthy of respect, even from those who throw dust at his head, “As in the theater the eyes of men,/After
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Approximate Word count = 1620
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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