Study Questions on Richard II                                                                             Flores

1.  Note the elaborate use of ritual forms of address, names, titles in 1.1.  What do these ceremonies and decorums represent; what is their function?

2.  In 1.1, begin to explore Bolingbroke's and Mowbray's motives and interests, as well as Richard’s manner of self-presentation or conduct (cf at 1.1.196 one “not born to sue, but to command”—also 1.1.18-19, 152-7; 200-1).  For instance, Mowbray appears on the defensive as he tries to answer charges that he has squandered money intended to pay soldiers and that he has murdered the king’s uncle, the Duke of Gloucester (with aid of Aumerle but also perhaps in accord with Richard’s wishes); Mowbray does admit to having made a past attempt on the life of John of Gaunt (Bolingbroke’s father and uncle to the king), for which he was subsequently pardoned.  Do we see signs of what Mowbray expects of Richard and what Bolingbroke may be planning for the future?

3.  Bolingbroke and Mowbray invoke an older chivalric code of the nobility that is becoming superseded by the new style absolutist tendencies of the king.  Analyze what is at stake politically in Richard's agreeing to such ritual trial by combat then revoking his decision and banishing Bolingbroke and Mowbray (1.1., 1.3).

4.  Why does Gaunt refuse the Duchess of Gloucester's appeals that he avenge his brother's death (1.2).  Also, consider the Duchess's rhetorical strategies—how does she try to persuade him?  Note that this scene has no direct parallel in the historical chronicles and accounts of Richard II—it appears to be Shakespeare’s invention, though chronicle sources do portray Richard as implicated in Gloucester’s death.

5. What does Bolingbroke's response to Gaunt suggest about Bolingbroke: "O, who can hold a fire in his hand/By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?" (1.4.294-95)

6. What more do we learn or suspect about Richard's attitudes and policies in 1.4 (a scene that presents Richard in a more private/less public setting). 

7. What does Gaunt emphasize in 2.1 before and after Richard enters? Where does he stand on the issue of rebellion against a monarch?  Gaunt views the king as God’s “anointed” representative on earth; as head of the post-Reformation church, the monarch relayed this myth, as evident in An Homilie Against Disobedience and Wilfull Rebellion (1571), required to be read aloud every Sunday in all English churches:
“By these two places of the holy Scriptures, it is most evident that Kings, Queenes, and other Princes. . . are ordained of GOD, are to bee obeyed and honoured of their subjects: that such subjects, as are disobedient or rebellious against their Princes, disobey GOD, and procure their own damnation.”  The homilie proclaims that ‘rebellion is worse than the worst government of the worst prince’ and that those who contravene the monarch’s will inevitably provoke God ‘the more to plague them.’  (cf. 3.3.84-86 and 4.1.133-34).

8. After Gaunt's death (2.1.153ff), York attempts to apprise Richard of his errors.  What are these mistakes?  How would you describe and assess Richard’s respond to York?

9. Follow up on York's position through the play, particularly his decision to become "neuter" (2.3158) and his respective attitudes towards Bolingbroke and Richard (2.3, 3.3).

10. Analyze Bolingbroke's rhetoric at 2.3.113-36.

11.  In 3.1 Bolingbroke executes Bushy and Green.  What authority has he to do this and what does this act suggest about Bolingbroke's sense of himself as a subject in relation to the king?

12.  Analyze Richard's point of view/rhetoric in 3.2.

13.  How does Richard conduct himself in 3.3. and why?

14.  What is the function of the gardener scene in 3.4?  Note that Elizabeth’s government in the 1590s was said by some to be plagued by idle parasites.

15.  At the beginning of 4.1 we learn that Mowbray/Norfolk died after fighting for the Christian cause abroad.  How does this report (4.1.92-101) connect with our earlier impressions of him and his allegiance to Richard?  Does Mowbray stand out among the other characters?

16. Compare Richard and Bolingbroke in the deposition scene (4.1.163ff).  What does Richard attempt or accomplish here, both in regard to Bolingbroke and in terms of our response to him?  Is Richard in control, in distress? How would you direct this scene? How does Bolingbroke respond (play his hand)?

17. Does Richard come to a greater measure of self-knowledge in 5.1 and 5.5?  Or does he lament his failure to move against Bolingbroke; or is he satisfied with a kingdom of the mind?  Has your sympathy for and understanding of Richard grown since 4.1?  Explain.

18. Does this play support the "dominant" or rather "official" ideology of non-rebellion against a monarch, or does it justify such rebellion, either in principle or in the case of Richard and Henry Bolingbroke?  Read Prof. Teo Sipahigil’s brief essay “God, Earthly Might, and Politics in Richard II” (on class website in pdf format, see also his synopsis of the play’s plot/acts).