The Tragedy of King Richard the Second

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1. ACT 1

   A quarrel between two noblemen exposes the rot at the center of Richard's reign, and the King's mishandling of it sets his own downfall in motion.

   1. Scene 1 — London. A Room in the palace.

      At court, Henry Bolingbroke accuses Thomas Mowbray of treason and of a part in the murder of the Duke of Gloucester. Neither man will back down, so Richard sets a trial by combat at Coventry.

   2. Scene 2 — The same. A room in the DUKE OF LANCASTER'S palace.

      John of Gaunt and the widowed Duchess of Gloucester grieve her murdered husband. She begs Gaunt to avenge him; Gaunt answers that the killing was the King's doing and only God may judge God's anointed deputy.

   3. Scene 3 — Open Space, near Coventry. Lists set out, and a Throne.

      At the Coventry lists, just as the combat begins, Richard halts it and banishes both men: Bolingbroke for ten years (then six), Mowbray for life. Gaunt mourns the loss of his son.

   4. Scene 4 — London. A Room in the King's Castle

      Richard mocks Bolingbroke's popularity with the common people. Told that Gaunt is dying, he coldly plans to seize the old man's wealth to fund his Irish wars, having already 'farmed out' the realm to favourites.

2. ACT 2

   Gaunt's death and Richard's seizure of his estate trigger Bolingbroke's return; as the King sails for Ireland, England slides toward him.

   1. Scene 1 — London. An Apartment in Ely House.

      The dying Gaunt delivers his 'sceptred isle' lament for England and rebukes Richard to his face. When he dies, Richard seizes his lands, disinheriting Bolingbroke. York protests in vain, then the northern lords reveal Bolingbroke is already sailing home.

   2. Scene 2 — The Same. A Room in the Castle.

      The Queen is gripped by nameless dread. News arrives that Bolingbroke has landed with the nobles flocking to him. York, left as regent, is overwhelmed, and Richard's favourites scatter for safety.

   3. Scene 3 — The Wolds in Gloucestershire.

      Marching through Gloucestershire, Bolingbroke gathers Northumberland, Percy, Ross, and Willoughby. York confronts him for breaking his banishment but, lacking the force to stop him, stands aside.

   4. Scene 4 — A camp in Wales.

      In Wales, the Captain disbands Salisbury's army, frightened off by evil omens and a rumour that the King is dead.

3. ACT 3

   Richard returns to a kingdom already lost, and his fall accelerates from defiance to despair to surrender.

   1. Scene 1 — Bristol. BOLINGBROKE'S camp.

      At Bristol, Bolingbroke condemns the favourites Bushy and Green to death as the corrupters of King and commonwealth.

   2. Scene 2 — The coast of Wales. A castle in view.

      Landing from Ireland, Richard greets English soil and trusts in his divine right, only to learn blow by blow that the Welsh have fled, his favourites are dead, and York has joined Bolingbroke. He sinks into despair over the deaths of kings.

   3. Scene 3 — Wales. Before Flint Castle.

      At Flint Castle, Bolingbroke parleys while professing loyalty. Richard appears on the walls in glory, then descends to the 'base court' and effectively yields himself into his cousin's power.

   4. Scene 4 — Langley. The DUKE OF YORK's garden.

      In the Duke of York's garden, a gardener compares the neglected, overgrown garden to the misgoverned realm. The hidden Queen overhears that Richard is doomed.

4. ACT 4

   In Westminster Hall the crown changes hands, and a bishop's warning foretells the bloody century the deposition will unleash.

   1. Scene 1 — Westminster Hall.

      Lords hurl down their gages accusing Aumerle of Gloucester's murder. The Bishop of Carlisle condemns the deposing of an anointed king and prophesies civil war; he is arrested. Richard is brought in to surrender the crown in the mirror scene, and a plot to restore him quietly begins.

5. ACT 5

   Richard is parted from his queen and murdered in prison, while the new king's reign opens under the shadow of the blood that bought it.

   1. Scene 1 — London. A street leading to the Tower.

      On the way to the Tower, Richard and the Queen take an anguished farewell. Northumberland orders Richard north to Pomfret and the Queen home to France.

   2. Scene 2 — The same. A roomin the DUKE OF YORK's palace.

      York describes Richard's humiliating ride into London behind Bolingbroke. He then discovers his son Aumerle's part in a conspiracy against the new king and rides off to denounce him.

   3. Scene 3 — Windsor. A room in the Castle.

      Aumerle reaches the King first to beg pardon; York demands his son's death for treason while the Duchess of York pleads for his life. King Henry pardons Aumerle.

   4. Scene 4 — Another room in the Castle.

      Sir Pierce of Exton seizes on the King's brooding wish to be rid of 'this living fear' and takes it as an order to kill the imprisoned Richard.

   5. Scene 5 — Pomfret. The dungeon of the Castle.

      Alone at Pomfret, Richard meditates on prison, time, and identity. A loyal groom and the keeper visit him; then Exton and his men break in. Richard fights and kills two before Exton strikes him down, and he dies prophesying ruin.

   6. Scene 6 — Windsor. An Apartment in the Castle.

      Henry receives news that the rebellions are crushed. Exton brings in Richard's coffin expecting thanks; the King disowns the murder, banishes Exton, and vows a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to wash the guilt from his hands.

Characters

• King Richard II protagonist

  King of England, grandson of Edward III and son of the Black Prince, crowned as a boy. Eloquent, capricious, and convinced of his sacred right to rule, he banishes Bolingbroke, seizes Gaunt's estate to fund an Irish war, and is undone by it; deposed and imprisoned, he meets his death at Pomfret meditating on what a king becomes once the crown is gone.

• Henry Bolingbroke deuteragonist

  Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, son of John of Gaunt and cousin to the King. Banished after his quarrel with Mowbray and then disinherited, he returns in arms to reclaim his lands, gathers the discontented nobles, and rises to seize the crown as King Henry IV, haunted from the first by how he came to it.

• John of Gaunt major

  John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III and uncle to the King. The dying voice of an older England, he delivers the 'this royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle' speech lamenting Richard's misrule, then dies; his confiscated inheritance is the spark that brings his son Bolingbroke back in rebellion.

• Duke of York major

  Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, son of Edward III and uncle to the King. Left as regent when Richard sails for Ireland, he is torn between his oath to the crown and the justice of Bolingbroke's cause; he submits to the new order, then turns informer against his own son Aumerle to prove his loyalty.

• Queen Isabel supporting

  Richard's young queen, who senses coming grief before she knows its cause, overhears the gardeners report her husband's fall, and takes a last sorrowful leave of him on his way to the Tower before she is sent back to France.

• Duke of Aumerle supporting

  Edward, Duke of Aumerle, son of the Duke of York and a loyal favourite of Richard. After the deposition he is drawn into a plot against the new king; his father discovers it and denounces him, and only his mother's frantic pleading wins him King Henry's pardon.

• Thomas Mowbray supporting

  Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, accused by Bolingbroke of treason and of a hand in the Duke of Gloucester's murder. Denied trial by combat when Richard halts the duel, he is banished for life and dies abroad, having fought in the Crusades.

• Earl of Northumberland supporting

  Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, the most powerful of the nobles who rally to Bolingbroke. Cold and efficient, he manages Richard's surrender and deposition; his rough handling of the fallen king earns Richard's prophecy that the new reign will turn on its makers.

• Henry Percy (Hotspur) minor

  The young Harry Percy, son of Northumberland, who joins his father in Bolingbroke's service and offers the returning duke his sword. (He grows into the fiery Hotspur of Henry IV, Part 1.)

• Lord Ross minor

  One of the northern lords who, with Willoughby, hears Northumberland out and rides to join Bolingbroke at Ravenspurgh, angered by Richard's taxes and the seizure of Gaunt's estate.

• Lord Willoughby minor

  A northern lord who joins Ross and Northumberland in defecting to Bolingbroke when the banished duke lands to reclaim his confiscated inheritance.

• Duchess of Gloucester minor

  Widow of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, Edward III's murdered youngest son. In an early scene she begs Gaunt to avenge her husband's death, then yields to his faith that vengeance belongs to God; word of her own death follows soon after.

• Duchess of York supporting

  Wife of the Duke of York and mother of Aumerle. When her husband rides to betray their son's part in a conspiracy, she races after him to the new king and on her knees out-pleads York himself, winning Aumerle's life.

• Bushy minor

  One of King Richard's intimate favourites and flatterers, blamed by the commons for the realm's misgovernment. Captured at Bristol when Bolingbroke lands, he is condemned and executed alongside Green.

• Bagot minor

  One of Richard's favourites. Parting from the others as Bolingbroke advances, he survives to accuse Aumerle of the Duke of Gloucester's murder in the gage-throwing quarrel after Richard's fall.

• Green minor

  One of Richard's favourites, denounced by Bolingbroke as a caterpillar of the commonwealth who has misled the King. He is taken at Bristol and put to death with Bushy.

• Bishop of Carlisle minor

  A loyal churchman who boldly warns the assembled lords that deposing God's anointed king will bring civil bloodshed on England for generations. Arrested for treason, he is later spared by Bolingbroke for the nobility of his conscience.

• Sir Stephen Scroop minor

  The messenger who brings Richard the cascade of bad news on his return from Ireland: the whole realm has risen for Bolingbroke, and his favourites Bushy and Green are dead.

• Earl of Salisbury minor

  A loyal supporter of Richard who tries to hold the Welsh army together for the King, but they disperse on a rumour of his death; he remains faithful to the end.

• Lord Fitzwater minor

  One of the lords who throws down his gage in the quarrel over the Duke of Gloucester's death, swearing he heard Aumerle boast of arranging the murder.

• Duke of Surrey minor

  A young lord who takes Aumerle's side in the gage-throwing quarrel, giving Fitzwater the lie and pledging his own honour against the accusation.

• Lord Berkeley minor

  A nobleman sent by the Duke of York to parley with Bolingbroke when the banished duke first lands in arms in the north.

• Sir Pierce of Exton minor

  An ambitious knight who, taking King Henry's brooding wish to be rid of 'this living fear' as a command, murders the imprisoned Richard at Pomfret, only to be disowned and cursed for the deed.

• Abbot of Westminster minor

  The Abbot of Westminster, who after the deposition gathers Aumerle, Carlisle and others into a conspiracy to restore Richard and unseat the new king.

• Lord Marshal minor

  The officer who presides over the formal trial by combat at Coventry, marshalling Bolingbroke and Mowbray to the lists before Richard stops the duel.

• Gardener minor

  The head gardener whose tending of an overgrown garden becomes an extended allegory for the misgoverned kingdom; overheard by the Queen, he reports that Richard is in Bolingbroke's power.

• Servant minor

  A serving-man of the Duke of York's household and one of the gardener's men, voicing the small domestic and working life set against the great quarrels of the nobles.

• Keeper minor

  The keeper of the prison at Pomfret Castle who brings Richard his food and, forbidden to taste it first, triggers the struggle in which the deposed king is killed.

• Groom minor

  A humble groom of Richard's stable who visits the fallen king in prison to tell him how his own horse, roan Barbary, bore the new king proudly at the coronation.

• Welsh Captain minor

  Captain of the Welsh forces gathered for Richard. Reading dire omens and believing the King dead, he disperses his men, fatally weakening Richard's cause before he even returns from Ireland.

• First Herald minor

  A herald who formally proclaims Bolingbroke's name and cause at the trial by combat at Coventry.

• Second Herald minor

  A herald who formally proclaims Mowbray's name and cause at the trial by combat at Coventry.

• A Lord minor

  A nobleman of the court who speaks in the proceedings after Richard's fall, joining the renewed quarrel over the Duke of Gloucester's death.

• Lady minor

  A lady attending the Queen, who tries to lighten her mistress's sorrow with talk of games and song in the garden.

Cross-references

• Folger Shakespeare
• MIT plain text
• Wikipedia