I have been
fascinated by Shakespeare’s Richard ll; it might not be one of his best plays,
but it is certainly not one of his least. Furthermore, Shakespeare has a lot to
tell us about life in this play. I remember reading a book review, long ago,
about important life lessons that one can glean from Shakespeare’s works. This,
in addition to his poetry and his ability to create characters that seem more
real and nuanced than those we encounter in life, is an astounding achievement.
“The Life
and Death of Richard ll” is not only aesthetically pleasing, as we shall see. Richard
(1367-1400) was deposed and murdered by Bollingbroke, who assumed the title of
King Henry lV after Richard’s assassination.
Richard is
referred to several times in the play, especially by older men, as having been
a wastrel and spendthrift. We are to take this for granted, for we see little
evidence of Richard spending lavishly on himself. In the play, Richard raises
money for a ‘patriotic’ reason, namely to fight the Irish wars. How he raises
the funds is what eventually does him in. In medieval England there was no
bureaucracy, no Internal Revenue Service, to collect taxes. Richard assigned
this to individuals who would raise money as they saw fit while taking a cut
for themselves. You can imagine the corruption! The poorly selected officials often
confiscate the estates of nobles to raise money. In fact, Richard’s
confiscation of Bollingbroke’s estate was the source of the rebellion against
him. Since the Magna Carta of 1066, the only valid reason for confiscating a
noble’s estate was treason. The King’s determination to raise money however he
wanted made him a very unpopular king indeed.
.jpg)
Although rebels wound thee with their horses’ hooves.
As a long parted mother with her child
Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting,
So weeping, smiling, greet I thee , my earth,
And do thee favor with my royal hands,
Feed not they sovereign’s foe, my gentle earth...
Act 3:2
lines 7-12
This is
Thomas Hobbes, whose book, Leviathan, published in 1651, contained the classic
formulation of the divine right of kings, on steroids. Richard believed that
God would always protect him, no matter what he did:
The deputy elected by the Lord.
For every man that Bolingbroke hath pressed
To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown,
Heaven for His Richard hath in heavenly pay
A glorious angel. Then, if angels fight,
Weak men must fall, for heaven still guarda the right…
Act 3:2
lines 51-57
Shakespeare
was of course writing for his times, and not intending to present an accurate depiction
of medieval England. Trial by combat, was considered to be just because God
would not permit an unjust man to defeat one who was telling the truth. Such a
view, which plays an important part in the play, was rapidly going out of
fashion in Shakespeare’s time. That Richard’s total conviction that God is on
his side, without his having to pay attention to worldly events, leads to his ruin--an important lesson of the play.
As the play
progresses, Richard’s impending defeat and doom become more and more
inevitable. This has a paradoxical effect on Richard; he becomes more eloquent.
When Richard’s world collapses, he loses the very foundation of his pride. In other
words, he was a Sun once, now he’s a flickering taper. Richard seems to relish
this role and becomes a veritable and eloquent master of self-pity. If God no
longer will defend him, he will not defend himself. He passively accepts his
fate. When a narcissist loses the image he has of himself, what is left? Nothing.
No, not the name was given me at the font—
But ‘tis usurped. Alack the heavy day,
That I have worn so many winters out
And know not now what name to call myself.
4:1 lines
248-252
How needy
are narcissists! Without the crown, he considers himself to be nothing. He
counts his life in winters; even in his spring, deep down there he knew
it was winter. If he can’t have it all, he has nothing at all. He wallows in
his misery:
Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth,
Let’s talk of executors and talk of wills—
And yet not so, for what can we bequeath?
Just before
he is murdered, Richard says the following lines:
And none contented. Sometimes am I king,
Then treason makes me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am; then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king,
Then I am kinged again. And by and by
Think that I am unkinged by Bollingbroke,
And straight am nothing. But whate’er I am,
Nor I nor any man that but man is
With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased
With being nothing.
5:5
lines 31-41
Poor
Richard! He is locked within his own imagination. He is unable to seek allies,
which a politician must do. Others he sees as dwelling in himself, the mark of
a true solipsist.
Earlier in
the play, forced to give up his crown, Richard concocts an elaborate monologue,
full of self-pity. This scene was removed from the First Folio, since the
depiction of a king giving up his crown was apparently thought to be too
controversial.
Richard,
when he was king, would have agreed with Louis XIV, who famously said, “L’etat,
c’est moi!” Louis, however, carefully silenced any potential rivalry to his
throne first, something that Richard, convinced that God was his ally, never
bothered to do. With God on your side, who cares if you’re unpopular? When
Bollingbroke proved that Richard’s belief was a fantasy, his house of cards
collapsed. The only things left in his hand, as it were, were a Joker and the
Ace of Spades.
My two favorite lines of the play are as follows. The first is spoken by Richard in his final monologue: "I wasted time, now doth time waste me." Although this might sound like regrets one might have in old age, one mus recall that Richard was only in his early thirties at the time of his death. The other favorite quote is spoken by an older and wiser man, York, regarding Richard: “Comfort’s in heaven, but we are here on earth.” When we are guided solely by fantasy; when we lack the ability to forge and maintain mature relationships; when we are unable to love, we are in danger of ending up like Richard. A rich inner life is cold comfort to one who is locked within his own psyche.
Shakespeare’s play is a warning, a portrayal of a deadly mental illness. What is the
cure?
