view of shakespear's richard ii

Crocker 9/26/00 VIEW OF RICHARD II The opening of the play attempts to show us that Richard II is a peaceful king, as he tries to lead Bolingbroke and Mowbray away from their hostilities toward each other. But there is a self-serving reason for Richard’s wanting peace between these two. If he allowed these two to continue their quarrel and fight to the death, either his part in the murder would be revealed by Gaunt …

…mark me how I will undo myself” (1.1, 203). Through some sort of inner revelation Richard has concluded his time as king is over. Our first view of Richard as a self-indulgent and avarious king, who rules only for his own reward, changes as we move through to the end of the play. We wind up viewing Richard with at least partial sympathy as a victim of a political world he was ill suited to. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**