The Life and Death of Richard ll, a Play that Warns of the Dangers of Solipsism

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.

Richard was known in the play as in life as an incompetent politician. It is actually far worse than that;  he didn’t even try. Why? Because he believed he was God’s anointed and thus could do anything he wanted, since he believed God was on his side. Here we see a fatal flaw in Richard’s character: he is a narcissist and lacks empathy for his subjects.

Richard: Dear Earth I do salute thee with my hand,
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 breath of worldly men cannot dispose
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.

Richard: No, nor no man’s lord. I have no name, no title—
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:

Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs,
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:

Thus play I in one prison many people
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?