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Richard II

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: UK HarperPress 2011Description: 288pISBN:
  • 9780007902293
DDC classification:
  • 822.33/SHA
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Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

'Bear you well in this new spring of time,

Lest you be cropp'd before you come to prime.'

King Richard II rules England in a wasteful and short-sighted way, spending money unwisely and selecting his counselors foolishly. His manner ostracises him from his people and his country and it's not long before both commoners and noblemen feel Richard has gone too far.

When Richard seizes land that rightfully belongs to his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Bolingbroke retaliates by invading England while Richard is at war in Ireland. More popular with the commoners, Henry is eventually crowned King Henry IV.

One of Shakespeare's 'history plays', Richard II explores the notion of the shadow that is cast over a king's reign if the throne is gained in underhand ways.

2.50 GBP

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

[1.1] A Enter King Richard, John of Gaunt, with other nobles and attendants. king richard Old John of Gaunt, time-honored Lancaster, Hast thou according to thy oath and bond Brought hither Henry Hereford, thy bold son, Here to make good the boist'rous late appeal, Which then our leisure would not let us hear, Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray? gaunt I have, my liege. king richard Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him If he appeal the Duke on ancient malice, Or worthily, as a good subject should, On some known ground of treachery in him? gaunt As near as I could sift him on that argument, On some apparent danger seen in him Aimed at Your Highness, no inveterate malice. king richard Then call them to our presence.[Exit an attendant.] Face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear The accuser and the accusèd freely speak. High-stomached are they both, and full of ire; In rage, deaf as the sea, hasty as fire. Enter Bolingbroke and Mowbray. 22Each . . . happiness May each day improve on the happiness of other past days 23hap fortune 26you come for which you come 28what . . . object what accusation do you bring 30record witness 32Tend'ring watching over, holding dear 34appellant as the accuser 38answer answer for 39miscreant irreligious villain 40good i.e., noble, high-born 41crystal clear. (The image alludes to the crystal spheres in which, according to the Ptolemaic conception of the universe, the heavenly bodies were fixed.) 43aggravate the note emphasize the stigma, i.e., the charge of treason 45so please if it please 46right-drawn justly drawn 47accuse my zeal cast doubt on my zeal or loyalty. 48woman's war i.e., war of words 49eager sharp, biting bolingbroke Many years of happy days befall My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege! mowbray Each day still better others' happiness, Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap, Add an immortal title to your crown! king richard We thank you both. Yet one but flatters us, As well appeareth by the cause you come: Namely, to appeal each other of high treason. Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray? bolingbroke First--heaven be the record to my speech!-- In the devotion of a subject's love, Tend'ring the precious safety of my prince, And free from other misbegotten hate, Come I appellant to this princely presence. Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee; And mark my greeting well, for what I speak My body shall make good upon this earth Or my divine soul answer it in heaven. Thou art a traitor and a miscreant, Too good to be so and too bad to live, Since the more fair and crystal is the sky, The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly. Once more, the more to aggravate the note, With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat, And wish, so please my sovereign, ere I move, What my tongue speaks my right-drawn sword may prove. mowbray Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal. 'Tis not the trial of a woman's war, The bitter clamor of two eager tongues, 50Can that can 56post ride at high speed (like a messenger riding relays of horses) 58Setting . . . royalty Disregarding Bolingbroke's royal blood (as grandson of Edward III) 59let him be suppose him to be 63tied obliged 65inhabitable uninhabitable 69gage a pledge to combat (usually a glove or gauntlet, i.e., a mailed or armored glove) 70Disclaiming relinquishing. kindred kinship 72except exempt, set aside. 74pawn i.e., the gage 77or . . . devise or anything worse you can imagine to have been said about you. Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain; The blood is hot that must be cooled for this. Yet can I not of such tame patience boast As to be hushed and naught at all to say. First, the fair reverence of Your Highness curbs me From giving reins and spurs to my free speech, Which else would post until it had returned These terms of treason doubled down his throat. Setting aside his high blood's royalty, And let him be no kinsman to my liege, I do defy him, and I spit at him, Call him a slanderous coward and a villain; Which to maintain I would allow him odds And meet him, were I tied to run afoot Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps Or any other ground inhabitable Wherever Englishman durst set his foot. Meantime, let this defend my loyalty: By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie. bolingbroke [throwing down his gage] Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage, Disclaiming here the kindred of the King, And lay aside my high blood's royalty, Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except. If guilty dread have left thee so much strength As to take up mine honor's pawn, then stoop. By that, and all the rites of knighthood else, Will I make good against thee, arm to arm, What I have spoke or thou canst worse devise. mowbray [taking up the gage] I take it up; and by that sword I swear Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder, I'll answer thee in any fair degree Or chivalrous design of knightly trial; 82light alight, dismount 85inherit us put me in possession of, make me have 87Look what Whatever 88nobles gold coins worth six shillings eight pence 89lendings advances on pay 90lewd vile, base 93Or either 95these eighteen years i.e., ever since the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 96Complotted plotted in a conspiracy 97Fetch derive. head and spring (Synonymous words meaning "origin.") 100Duke of Gloucester's death (Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, a younger son of Edward III and brother of John of Gaunt, was murdered at Calais in September 1397, while in Mowbray's custody.) 101Suggest . . . adversaries did prompt Gloucester's easily persuaded enemies (to believe him guilty of treason) 102consequently afterward 103Sluiced out let flow (as by the opening of a sluice, or valve) 104Abel's (For the story of Cain's murder of his brother Abel, the first such murder on earth and the archetype of the killing of a kinsman, see Genesis 4:3-12.) 105tongueless resonant but without articulate speech; echoing 109pitch highest reach of a falcon's flight And when I mount, alive may I not light If I be traitor or unjustly fight! king richard What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great that can inherit us So much as of a thought of ill in him. bolingbroke Look what I speak, my life shall prove it true: That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles In name of lendings for Your Highness' soldiers, The which he hath detained for lewd employments, Like a false traitor and injurious villain. Besides I say, and will in battle prove Or here or elsewhere to the furthest verge That ever was surveyed by English eye, That all the treasons for these eighteen years Complotted and contrivèd in this land Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring. Further I say, and further will maintain Upon his bad life to make all this good, That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester' s death, Suggest his soon-believing adversaries, And consequently, like a traitor coward, Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood-- Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth To me for justice and rough chastisement. And, by the glorious worth of my descent, This arm shall do it or this life be spent. king richard How high a pitch his resolution soars! Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this? 113this slander . . . blood this disgrace to the royal family 118my scepter's awe the reverence due my scepter 120nothing not at all. partialize make partial, bias 126receipt money received 129For that because 130Upon . . . account for the balance of a heavy debt 131Since . . . queen (Mowbray went in 1395 to France to negotiate the King's marriage to Isabella, daughter of the French King Charles VI, but Richard himself escorted her to England.) 132-4 For . . . case (Mowbray speaks guardedly but seems to imply that he postponed the execution of Gloucester that he was ordered by Richard to carry out.) 132For As for 140exactly (1) explicitly (2) fully 142appealed of which I am charged mowbray Oh, let my sovereign turn away his face And bid his ears a little while be deaf, Till I have told this slander of his blood How God and good men hate so foul a liar! king richard Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears. Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir, As he is but my father's brother's son, Now, by my scepter's awe I make a vow, Such neighbor nearness to our sacred blood Should nothing privilege him nor partialize The unstooping firmness of my upright soul. He is our subject, Mowbray; so art thou. Free speech and fearless I to thee allow. mowbray Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart Through the false passage of thy throat thou liest! Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais Disbursed I duly to His Highness' soldiers; The other part reserved I by consent, For that my sovereign liege was in my debt Upon remainder of a dear account Since last I went to France to fetch his queen. Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester' s death, I slew him not, but to my own disgrace Neglected my sworn duty in that case. [To Gaunt] For you, my noble lord of Lancaster, The honorable father to my foe, Once did I lay an ambush for your life, A trespass that doth vex my grievèd soul; But ere I last received the Sacrament I did confess it, and exactly begged Your Grace's pardon, and I hope I had it. This is my fault. As for the rest appealed, 144recreant cowardly; or, coward (used as a noun) 145Which which charge. in myself in my own person 146interchangeably in exchange, reciprocally 147overweening arrogant, proud 149Even in by shedding 150In haste whereof To hasten which proof of my innocence 153Let' s . . . blood let's treat this wrath (caused by an excess of bile or choler) by purging (vomiting or evacuation) rather than by medical bloodletting. (With a play on "bloodshed in combat.") 156conclude come to a final agreement 157no month to bleed (Learned authorities often differed as to which months or seasons were best for medicinal bloodletting.) 164boot help for it. 165Myself I throw i.e., I throw myself, instead of my gage 168Despite . . . grave that will live in the epitaph on my grave in spite of devouring Death It issues from the rancor of a villain, A recreant and most degenerate traitor, Which in myself I boldly will defend, And interchangeably hurl down my gage Upon this overweening traitor's foot, To prove myself a loyal gentleman Even in the best blood chambered in his bosom. [He throws down his gage. Bolingbroke picks it up.] In haste whereof most heartily I pray Your Highness to assign our trial day. king richard Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me; Let's purge this choler without letting blood. This we prescribe, though no physician; Deep malice makes too deep incision. Forget, forgive; conclude and be agreed; Our doctors say this is no month to bleed.-- Good uncle, let this end where it begun; We'll calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your son. gaunt To be a make-peace shall become my age. Throw down, my son, the Duke of Norfolk's gage. king richard And Norfolk, throw down his. gauntWhen, Harry, when? Obedience bids I should not bid again. king richard Norfolk, throw down, we bid; there is no boot. mowbray [kneeling] Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot. My life thou shalt command, but not my shame. The one my duty owes; but my fair name, Despite of death that lives upon my grave, To dark dishonor's use thou shalt not have. 170impeached accused. baffled publicly dishonored 173Which . . . poison of him who uttered this slander. 174Lions . . . tame (The royal arms showed a lion rampant; Mowbray' s emblem was a leopard.) 175spots (1) leopard spots (2) stains of dishonor. 177mortal times our earthly lives 182in one inseparably 184try put to the test 186throw . . . gage i.e., surrender your gage up to me, thereby ending the quarrel. (Richard is probably seated on a raised throne, as in scene 3.) 189impeach my height discredit my high rank 190out-dared dared down, cowed. dastard coward. 191feeble wrong dishonorable submission 192sound . . . parle trumpet so shameful a negotiation, i.e., consent to ask a truce 192-5 my teeth . . . face my teeth will bite off my tongue as a craven instrument of cowardly capitulation and spit it out bleeding, to its (the tongue's) great disgrace, into Mowbray's face, where shame abides perpetually. 195.1 Exit Gaunt (A stage direction from the Folio, adopted by most editors so that Gaunt will not be required to exit at the end of scene 1 and then immediately reenter.) I am disgraced, impeached, and baffled here, Pierced to the soul with slander's venomed spear, The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood Which breathed this poison. king richardRage must be withstood. Give me his gage. Lions make leopards tame. mowbray Yea, but not change his spots. Take but my shame, And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord, The purest treasure mortal times afford Is spotless reputation; that away, Men are but gilded loam or painted clay. A jewel in a ten-times-barred-up chest Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast. Mine honor is my life; both grow in one; Take honor from me, and my life is done. Then, dear my liege, mine honor let me try; In that I live, and for that will I die. king richard [to Bolingbroke] Cousin, throw up your gage; do you begin. bolingbroke Oh, God defend my soul from such deep sin! Shall I seem crestfallen in my father's sight? Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height Before this out-dared dastard? Ere my tongue Shall wound my honor with such feeble wrong, Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear The slavish motive of recanting fear And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace, Where shame doth harbor, even in Mowbray's face. [Exit Gaunt.] king richard We were not born to sue but to command; Which since we cannot do to make you friends, Be ready, as your lives shall answer it, 199Saint Lambert's day September 17. 202atone reconcile 203design . . . chivalry designate who is the true chivalric victor. 205home alarms domestic conflicts. 1.2Location: John of Gaunt's house (? No place is specified, and the scene is not in Holinshed.) 1the part . . . blood my kinship with Thomas of Woodstock, the Duke of Gloucester (i.e., as his older brother) 2exclaims exclamations 3stir take action 4those hands i.e., Richard's (whom Gaunt charges with responsibility for Gloucester's death) 11Edward's Edward III's 21envy' s malice's At Coventry upon Saint Lambert's day. There shall your swords and lances arbitrate The swelling difference of your settled hate. Since we cannot atone you, we shall see Justice design the victor's chivalry. Lord Marshal, command our officers at arms Be ready to direct these home alarms. Exeunt. Excerpted from Richard II by William Shakespeare All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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