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    King Richard the Second
    King Richard the Second
    King Richard the Second
    Ebook110 pages1 hour

    King Richard the Second

    By William Shakespeare

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    Written in 1595, Richard II occupies a significant place in the Shakespeare canon, marking 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. It is the first of four connected plays—including 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, and Henry V—generally considered Shakespeare's finest history plays. The drama of Richard II centers on the power struggle between the grandiloquent King Richard and the plain-spoken, blunt Henry Bolingbroke, who is banished from Britain at the beginning of the play. But when Henry's father, John of Gaunt, dies, Richard confiscates his property with no regard to his son's rights, and Bolingbroke returns to confront the king, who surrenders his crown and is imprisoned in Pomfret Castle, where he is soon murdered.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJH
    Release dateMar 24, 2019
    ISBN9788832575736
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

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      Book preview

      King Richard the Second - William Shakespeare

      King Richard the Second

      William Shakespeare

      .

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

        KING RICHARD THE SECOND

        JOHN OF GAUNT, Duke of Lancaster - uncle to the King

        EDMUND LANGLEY, Duke of York - uncle to the King

        HENRY, surnamed BOLINGBROKE, Duke of Hereford, son of

          John of Gaunt, afterwards King Henry IV

        DUKE OF AUMERLE, son of the Duke of York

        THOMAS MOWBRAY, Duke of Norfolk

        DUKE OF SURREY

        EARL OF SALISBURY

        EARL BERKELEY

        BUSHY - favourites of King Richard

        BAGOT -

        GREEN -

        EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND

        HENRY PERCY, surnamed HOTSPUR, his son

        LORD Ross LORD WILLOUGHBY

        LORD FITZWATER BISHOP OF CARLISLE

        ABBOT OF WESTMINSTER LORD MARSHAL

        SIR STEPHEN SCROOP SIR PIERCE OF EXTON

        CAPTAIN of a band of Welshmen TWO GARDENERS

        QUEEN to King Richard

        DUCHESS OF YORK

        DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER, widow of Thomas of Woodstock,

          Duke of Gloucester

        LADY attending on the Queen

        Lords, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Keeper, Messenger,

          Groom, and other Attendants

      <

      SHAKESPEARE IS COPYRIGHT 1990-1993 BY WORLD LIBRARY, INC., AND IS

      PROVIDED BY PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT OF CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

      WITH PERMISSION. ELECTRONIC AND MACHINE READABLE COPIES MAY BE

      DISTRIBUTED SO LONG AS SUCH COPIES (1) ARE FOR YOUR OR OTHERS

      PERSONAL USE ONLY, AND (2) ARE NOT DISTRIBUTED OR USED

      COMMERCIALLY. PROHIBITED COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION INCLUDES BY ANY

      SERVICE THAT CHARGES FOR DOWNLOAD TIME OR FOR MEMBERSHIP.>>

      SCENE: England and Wales

      ACT I. SCENE I. London. The palace

      Enter RICHARD, JOHN OF GAUNT, with other NOBLES and attendants

        KING RICHARD. Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster,

          Hast thou, according to thy oath and band,

          Brought hither Henry Hereford, thy bold son,

          Here to make good the boist'rous late appeal,

          Which then our leisure would not let us hear,

          Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?

        GAUNT. I have, my liege.

        KING RICHARD. Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him

          If he appeal the Duke on ancient malice,

          Or worthily, as a good subject should,

          On some known ground of treachery in him?

        GAUNT. As near as I could sift him on that argument,

          On some apparent danger seen in him

          Aim'd at your Highness-no inveterate malice.

        KING RICHARD. Then call them to our presence: face to face

          And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear

          The accuser and the accused freely speak.

          High-stomach'd are they both and full of ire,

          In rage, deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.

      Enter BOLINGBROKE and MOWBRAY

        BOLINGBROKE. Many years of happy days befall

          My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege!

        MOWBRAY. Each day still better other's happiness

          Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,

          Add an immortal title to your crown!

        KING RICHARD. We thank you both; yet one but flatters us,

          As well appeareth by the cause you come;

          Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.

          Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object

          Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?

        BOLINGBROKE. First-heaven be the record to my speech!

          In the devotion of a subject's love,

          Tend'ring the precious safety of my prince,

          And free from other misbegotten hate,

          Come I appellant to this princely presence.

          Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,

          And mark my greeting well; for what I speak

          My body shall make good upon this earth,

          Or my divine soul answer it in heaven-

          Thou art a traitor and a miscreant,

          Too good to be so, and too bad to live,

          Since the more fair and crystal is the sky,

          The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.

          Once more, the more to aggravate the note,

          With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;

          And wish-so please my sovereign-ere I move,

          What my tongue speaks, my right drawn sword may prove.

        MOWBRAY. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal.

          'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,

          The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,

          Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain;

          The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this.

          Yet can I not of such tame patience boast

          As to be hush'd and nought at an to say.

          First, the fair reverence of your Highness curbs me

          From giving reins and spurs to my free speech;

          Which else would post until it had return'd

          These terms of treason doubled down his throat.

          Setting aside his high blood's royalty,

          And let him be no kinsman to my liege,

          I do defy him, and I spit at him,

          Call him a slanderous coward and a villain;

          Which to maintain, I would allow him odds

          And meet him, were I tied to run afoot

          Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,

          Or any other ground inhabitable

          Where ever Englishman durst set his foot.

          Meantime let this defend my loyalty-

          By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie

        BOLINGBROKE. Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,

          Disclaiming here the kindred of the King;

          And lay aside my high blood's royalty,

          Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.

          If guilty dread have left thee so much strength

          As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop.

          By that and all the rites of knighthood else

          Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,

          What I have spoke or thou canst worst devise.

        MOWBRAY. I take it up; and by that sword I swear

          Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder

          I'll answer thee in any fair degree

          Or chivalrous design of knightly trial;

          And when I mount, alive may I not light

          If I be traitor or unjustly fight!

        KING RICHARD. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge?

          It must be great that can inherit us

          So much as of a thought of ill in him.

        BOLINGBROKE. Look what I speak, my life shall prove it true-

          That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand nobles

          In name of lendings for your Highness' soldiers,

          The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments

          Like a false traitor and injurious villain.

          Besides, I say and will in battle prove-

          Or here, or elsewhere to the furthest verge

          That ever was survey'd by English eye-

          That all the treasons for these eighteen years

          Complotted and contrived in this land

          Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.

          Further I say, and further will maintain

          Upon his bad life to make all this good,

          That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death,

          Suggest his soon-believing adversaries,

          And consequently, like a traitor coward,

          Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood;

          Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,

          Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,

          To me for justice and rough chastisement;

          And, by the glorious worth of my descent,

          This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

        KING RICHARD. How high a pitch his resolution soars!

          Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this?

        MOWBRAY. O, let my sovereign turn away his face

          And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

          Till I have told this slander of his blood

          How God and good men hate so foul a liar.

        KING RICHARD. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and cars.

          Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,

          As he is but my father's brother's son,

          Now by my sceptre's

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