Richard II

by William Shakespeare

Paperback

Published August 25, 2011

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I'm attempting to read the histories in chronological order. King John is the first (excepting the Roman plays obviously) yet is more of a standalone story. This one, set two hundred years later around 1399, is the first part of the "Henriad," the tetralogy about King Henry the IV and V. Like King John it's a pretty simple drama, plot-wise, with language that you can mostly understand at first blush.

It starts off with a dispute between Bolingbroke (Henry IV) and another man, which I thought Richard arbitrates magnanimously. Then rather abruptly we find out Richard is a scoundrel, and the rest of the play shows things turning against him until he's reduced to an at turns groveling and resentful, self-pitying and egomaniacal drama queen.

"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me."

Then, just as abruptly, Shakespeare makes Richard wise, and full of true prophecies for the future. The playwright also crams in an allusion to Prince Hal at the very end. All this is typical of his histories. He writes them almost as secondary sources for a knowing audience. But at the heart of the play is the question of whether or not a king can indulge in tyrannical acts without forfeiting his divine right as king. Despite making the evils of Richard very plain, Shakespeare never ceases to complicate the rightness of his overthrow. Even to the last he is diligent in giving Richard his defenders. In the final scene King Henry himself gets spooked by what he's done.

I think I read this twice in college and remember thinking it was boring and that the titular Richard was rather flat. I still think he's kind of a ridiculous figure. I'm not sure how to read his over-the-top laments after seeing what an unscrupulous king he was. But I was more entertained by the play this time, and by all the squabbling of the panicky lords. At one point they become almost hysterical, each calling the other a liar and throwing down gages left and right. I could sort of see Shakespeare playing the work up for laughs.

"Go thou, and fill another room in hell."

It gets quite dramatic at the end, though. In a good way. I'm glad I reread.


Marginalia:

There's an unexpected and funny tribute to Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (1592), when Richard says:

"Was this face the face
That every day under his household roof
Did keep ten thousand men?"

[ellie turk · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love love this play. england may suck but the sceptred isle speech slaps, and richard’s wordplay is just so rich (pun not intended). maybe i just love any role played by david tennant but king richard is such a silly guy. yes king you’re literally jesus no one understands you