I finished reading the play Richard II by William Shakespeare a week or so ago. As promised in this post, I am writing a review.
I went in this play blind.
As a part of my Shakespeare project I started in January 2024, I am reading a play a month based on a recommended order of reading here.
Before now, all the plays I have read were familiar to me in. I knew more or less the story line of the plays, and what to expect. But with Richard II I was going in blind. No idea what the story was, besides the obvious that it was a historical play based on real events that happened in the English royalty circles a long time ago.
I was a bit anxious that I would not know what is going on in the play if the language gets heavy and hairy on the Middle English side of things, or the references too much of the times. The political nature of the play had me thinking it may be a bit heavy for me to read and understand the way I would like.
May I say that I was worried for no reason.
May I also say, that of all the plays I have read so far: Macbeth, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello,The Tempest and King Lear- Richard II was probably the easiest one to read.
And may I also add, that it was surely one of the most poetic and, in parts, one of the most romantic ones, I have read so far…
Yes, I was pleasantly surprised! And quite enjoyed the whole thing.
In fact, I was quite enthralled in the last 3 acts and had a hard time putting my book down.
Richard II, the deposed king, has been portrayed as an extremely poetic character with the best lines in the play…
Twice for one step I’ll groan, the way being short,
And piece the way out with a heavy heart.
Come, come, in wooing sorrow let’s be brief,
Since, wedding it, these is such length in grief:
One kiss shall stop our mouths, and dumbly part;
Thus give I mine, and thus I take thy heart.
Ultimately the play is about the deposition and murder of King Richard II for being a bad king. He is unfit to rule and is replaced forcefully by his cousin Bolingbroke as king. But that does not stop him from being a masterful poet with his words.
This juxtaposition of bad character and beautiful language makes Richard II an interesting character, and the play an intriguing one.
His cousin the new king, on the other hand, is a wooden character- keeping to political talk without us seeing his inner self, his motivations, or his vulnerability.
I would happily read it again, if I have the opportunity. I find that a second reading of a Shakespeare play, without stopping to read footnotes, gives me more satisfaction of having immersed myself in the language and flow of the writing as Shakespeare had meant for us to listen to his words.
I also read aloud the words when I am not disturbing anyone around me.
And enjoy that experience immensely.
Next Step: Watch a production of this play. I have this one in mind…