Flashcards
Richard II Quotes
Cards in this deck (31)
- 1'My lord, my answer is to Lancaster And here I come seek that name in England' Bolingbroke 2.3Gaunt's rightful hair
Richard stole Bolingbroke's primogeniture
Identity - 2'As I was banished I was banished Hereford, but as I come, I come for Lancaster' Bolingbroke 2.3Returned with army but Richard has stolen birthright
When a man dies his land goes to the eldest
If Richard denies that BB could take his titles - 3'I had forgot myself, am I not king?' Richard 3.2Richard realises how much danger he is in tries to find authority in king
Authority not just in name but in respect - 4'King Bolingbroke' RichardSarcastic address
Refuses to call him Lancaster
Thus defends the seizure of Gaunt's property
Bolingbroke refers to his dukedom and Richard shows how ridiculous it is to assume kingship - 5'My crown I am, but still my griefs are mine' Richard 4.1Richard explores the relationship between his identity and his title
If Bolingbroke takes power cannot take everything away from him. - 6'Go to Flint Castle There I'll pine away' Richard 3.2Man of words and pansy king
Makes other people sorry for him
Takes pleasure in talking about his suffering - 7'Now is this golden crown like deep well That owes two buckets, filling one another' Richard 4.1Richard links BB's luck to his own
Crown is a separate entity
Either one bucket is full, not both of them
Buckets full of suffering - 8'Mark silent king, the moral of this sport How soon my sorrow hath destroyed my face' Richard 4.1Face does not reflect his new degraded state
He smashes the mirror and tells King to look how ruined his face is
The complete separation of body politic and body natural - 9'Twice for one step, I'll groan, the way being short' Richard 4.1Only intimate part between wife
Richard promises the queen that he'll groan twice as much so they suffer the same amount - 10'His deputy anointed in his sight' Gaunt 1.1Richard can get away with anything being he is chosen by God
Divine Right of Kings and the Great Chain of Being - 11'How he did seem to dive into their hearts Thanks my countrymen my loving friends' Richard 1.4Richard relieved to banish B
Henry is a people person among the commoners
Richard nervous about this
Stark comparison between hero and villain - 12'Unto sovereign mercy of the king' 1.3Nothing stopping Henry taking the crown
Being King requires physical power which Richard lacks
Man of Action not words - 13'Not all the water in the rough rude sea can wash the balm off an anointed king' Richard 2.3Richard is naive
Richard disregards Bolingbroke and remarks he is God's deputy
Untouchable
Macbeth vs Macduff - 14'For I must nothing be/ I give this heavy weight from off my head with mine own tears I wash away my balm' Richard 4.1No ceremony for giving crown away
A coronation is not supposed to be undone
Giving it up in front of people
Needs to be public to be meaningful
An actor king - 15'The ripest fruit first falls' 2.1The person who is pure and driven always die first because they are men of action who get things done
Run into battle - 16'What must the king do now? Must he submit? The King shall do it' 3.3Third person thus is detached from his body politic and body natural
Doesn't have the power of a king anymore - 17'I wasted time, and now doth time waste me' 5.5King Richard realises his flaws in the prison, he becomes the wise character that he should have been in the beginning
His anagorisis comes too late as he cannot escape the prison
Reverts back to his old self when he utters 'mount, mount my soul on high' - 18'Though I did wish him dead, I hate the murd’rer, love him murdered' 5.6He loves the effects of Richard being murdered, but he hates that the deed happened.
The blame falls upon him as he is the king of the realm and he ordered it - 19'Landlord of England art thou and not king' 2.1Richard doesn't act like a king but rather a landlord that leases land out without thinking of the people.
Richard's duty is to the people and not the rich elite that he leases the land to
Not fit for kingship - 20This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars. This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. 2.1Nationalism of England
Older generation who doesn't exploit England for their own gain
Blessed plot meaning that God presides over it, and watches it all
England is too good for the people who exploit it, i.e Richard - 21'We were not born to sue, but to command' 1.1Richard is referring to his entitlement as King. As a king his role is to make decisions; others should "sue" to him
Outlines Richard's hubris and dependence of his title
Use of Royal We shows that he believes that he is superior to everyone else - 22'There lives or dies, true to King Richard's throne, A loyal, just and upright gentleman.' Mowbray (1.3.2)Mowbray shows up to the trial by combat ready to fight Henry Bolingbroke. Affirming his honour and his loyalty to Richard.
Whether the king has the right to kill noble subjects and still expect loyalty, and what honour means when the king has started behaving illegally. - 23A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast. Mowbray (1.1.6)Mowbray, who really does remain loyal to Richard, is a jewel.
Mowbray could also be the vault . The image of a jewel safely locked up in a chest is a clever way for Mowbray to tell Richard, albeit in code, that his secret is safe. - 24I would to God – So my untruth had not provoked him to it – The King had cut off my head with my brother's. York (2.2.4)Recognizes that Richard beheaded his brother (something the king never quite admits), yet remains loyal to the guy. Why is that? That York remains a loyal subject for as long as he does with this mentality shows how weird the concept of loyalty has become under Richard's rule.
- 25It would beseem the Lord Northumberland To say 'King Richard'. (3.3.1)He's deeply pained by the transfer of the title of king from one man to another.
- 26Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas! (3.2.8)Richard describes Bushy, Bagot, and Green as three Judases. Richard as the betrayed Christ – a comparison he loves making. He learns that his "Judases" have been executed – they died for him. Would Christ have cursed his friends and called them Judases? Just the opposite: Christ forgave Judas. Typical of Richard to see himself as better than he is.
- 27Mine eyes are full of tears; I cannot see. And yet salt water blinds them not so much But they can see a sort of traitor here. (4.1.7)Suffering often leads the sufferer to suddenly see the truth. Richard as king "blind" to the treason. Surrounded by liars who tell him whatever he wants to hear, even if it damages his position in the kingdom. Having just lost his crown, Richard recognises that, although his vision might be physically blurred (because he's crying), he's actually seeing clearly for the fist time. He recognises (a little late, it's true) that the people surrounding him are traitors.
- 28Then England's ground, farewell! Sweet soil, adieu – My mother and my nurse that bears me yet! (1.3.15)England's soil is an important symbol in the play. Richard's leasing of the land is used as evidence of his mistreatment of it. And by casting England as his mother, Henry Bolingbroke equates his sadness at leaving his father with his sadness at leaving his country.
- 29Where'er I wander, boast of this I can, Though banished, yet a true-born Englishman. (1.3.15)Contrasts interestingly with Mowbray's. Mowbray sees his banishment from England a kind of death, BB refuses to accept a passive position. He sees himself as aggressively communicating to the rest of the world that he is an Englishman.
- 30With Cain go wander through shades of night, And never show thy head by day nor light (5.6.6).At the end of the play, when Henry finds out that Exton has killed Richard he banishes him & compares him to Cain Henry refuses to acknowledge that he is the one who caused Richard's death. Thus Henry is like Cain, so it seems unjust that Exton should be banished.
This scene also reminds us of how and why Richard banished Henry back in Act 1, Scene 3. Is Henry's banishment of Exton really any different than Richard's banishment of Henry and Mowbray? - 31—
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- Flashcards on Untitled, created by Onik Ullah on 03/06/2018.
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