The introduction places the play squarely in its own time, describing its topical significance and its political perspectives, and showing how carefully Shakespeare positioned his play within an ongoing political conversation. The thorough set of textual notes and full commentary are designed to aid the modern reader to better understand and appreciate the language, the characters, and the dramatic action. This scholarly but student-friendly edition features a freshly edited version of the text based on the early quartos and first Folio of 1623. Deftly combining history with tragedy, its tale of bad government and usurpation had great political immediacy for its first audiences in late Elizabethan England and continues to resonate today. It marks the transition from the earlier history plays dominated by civil war and stark power to a more nuanced representation of the political conflicts of England's past where character and politics are inextricably intertwined. Written in 1595, Richard II occupies a significant place in the Shakespeare canon. Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Global Public Health.The European Society of Cardiology Series.Oxford Commentaries on International Law.

The play ends with Henry IV planning a penitential pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Sir Pierce of Exton decides solely on his own to execute the deposed king, and then, as a result, he is banished by King Henry. Richard is imprisoned in Pomfret Castle, where he faces his death alone, philosophically contemplating the meaning of his fall from grandeur. The rebel noblemen force the king to abdicate, and Bolingbroke is crowned as Henry IV. When Bolingbroke and his army decide to return from exile in France, the rebel forces prepare to confront Richard on his return from Ireland.

Unhappy with Richard's incompetence as a ruler and worried by his seizure of the Duke of Lancaster's wealth, a number of nobles rally support for Henry Bolingbroke. When he dies, Richard takes possession of all of Gaunt's wealth and leaves for Ireland. Gaunt warns Richard with his dying words that he is flirting with danger and doing great harm to the country by allowing himself to be influenced by his sycophantic courtiers. Then the king makes plans to leave for the wars in Ireland.īefore departing, Richard visits the ailing father of Bolingbroke, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. On the field of combat, the king changes his mind and banishes the two men - Bolingbroke for ten years (commuted to six) and Mowbray for life.

After attempts to reconcile them fail, Richard orders them to take part in a traditional chivalric trial by combat. Bolingbroke has accused Mowbray of treason, and the two of them exchange insults in the presence of King Richard. The play opens with a dispute between Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, and Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.

Richard II by William Shakespeare