Important Issues of Leadership in William Shakespeare's Richard II Richard II was one of Shakespeare's political works depicting the rise and fall of King Richard II. Richard became king of England as a boy at 10 years of age, although his advisors made most of the political decisions of the kingdom until he matured. During this maturation period, Richard was more interested in learning about aesthetic things in life rather than things more responsible to the monarch. He had very little experience and talent in the areas of military tactics and his decisions relating to the monarch seemed arbitrary. These traits that Richard displayed were not befitting to a king and a man who was suppose to lead. Rather than look out for the …show more content…
In addition to banishment, Henry was also unfairly taken of his families' wealth, land, and title, from which he was the rightful heir. Henry contrasted Richard in many ways, in that he was honest, and very practical. Furthermore, Henry was very reluctant to assume the role of future King, eventually accepting after urging and support from the other nobles. While Richard left England to oversee the progress of his foreign war, Henry and the other nobles began plans to take Richard's kingdom. This was a crucial mistake on Richard's part. By not taking care of issues on the domestic front, Richard's followers and soldiers grew increasingly weary of his ability to lead and be an effective king, eventually siding with Henry. Henry proceeded to capture Bristol Castle, a stronghold of Richard's and began his plans on being ordained future king. Upon Richard's return to England, he learns of the events that had transpired in his absence. At first his own arrogance allows him to believe that since it is his God given right to rule as King, he will be protected. But then just as quickly, Richard's arrogance turns into despair upon the realization that Henry has gained support of the nobles and the people of England. Henry and Richard finally meet at Ramparts Castle leading to the climax of the play. Henry demands retribution for the allocation of his families' possessions and
he finally wins the mayor and the alderman over and receives the offer to "the
It is only during his deposition and his imprisonment that Richard shows his greatest strength as a dramatic figure. Although occasionally he seems to demonstrate self-pity, he also reveals himself to have an acute awareness of the ironies and absurdities in the structure of power of his kingdom. He still compels the court to reconsider his initial claim that the crown is divinely appointed: “Not all the water… can wash the balm of an anointed king (3.2.55)”. Although he keeps reminding those present of his God-given mandate to rule, he seems also to take pleasure in passing on the trails of kingship to his successor. As a King, He does have a God-given position of being the king. But as a king one should know the difference between moral values and ethics values. Just because Richard is King and is appointed by God doesn’t give him any rights to be an awful ruler. He can’t always fight a problem by saying that he is
Since Richard cannot do anything about his deformity and ugliness he turns his bitterness to ambition and lays the groundwork for his plan to betray King Edward IV. Richard tells the audience, “plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, by drunken prophecies, libels and dreams, to set my brother Clarence and the King in deadly hate against the other; and if King Edward be as true and just as I am subtle, false, and treacherous, this day should Clarence closely be mewed up, about a prophecy, which says that G OF Edward’s heirs the murderer shall be” (1.1.32-40). In these lines, Richard reveals his plan that he will turn Clarence and King Edward against each other so Edward will banish Clarence to the tower because he believes Clarence will be his murderer. Richard will do this through declaring a prophecy that this will be so. Richard explains that this will work because King Edward is as just as Richard is treacherous and Richard will use that against King Edward to cause his and Clarence’s demise. It is not known whether the character Richard would have revealed more about his plan this early in the play because he is interrupted by Clarence. Richard ends the speech with the lines, “dive thoughts down to my soul, here Clarence comes” (1.1.41), which basically means that he better keep
Through his time at war as well as some other major events that happened during his life, Richard came to be known as the “Lionheart.” One of these events would be the revolt against his father in 1173. It is believed that Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s mother, manipulated her sons (Richard, Geoffrey, and Henry III) to revolt against their father. Seeking protection from Louis VII, Henry III abandoned his father and left for the French court, shortly followed by his two brothers. After a short amount of time, the brothers had attracted the support of many barons through bribing them with money and land. After a successful beginning to the revolt, Henry II marched his army of over twenty thousand soldiers to face the rebellion and recaptured Dol and subdued Brittany. Henry II attempted to make peace with his sons at this point, but as they had promised Louis VII, they declined. Henry II continued to capture more cities and returned to England with five hundred soldiers and his prisoners, including Eleanor and his sons’ wives and fiancées. After Henry II defeated Louis VII, a treaty was made and Richard was specifically excluded. This rebellion against his father resulted in less generous terms, where Richard was given control of two castles in Pitou, instead of four castles in Aquitaine, and half the income of Aquitaine, instead of half of the income of the duchy. Eleanor was also to remain a
According to many, Shakespeare intentionally portrays Richard III in ways that would have the world hail him as the ultimate Machiavel. This build up only serves to further the dramatic irony when Richard falls from his throne. The nature of Richard's character is key to discovering the commentary Shakespeare is delivering on the nature of tyrants. By setting up Richard to be seen as the ultimate Machiavel, only to have him utterly destroyed, Shakespeare makes a dramatic commentary on the frailty of tyranny and such men as would aspire to tyrannical rule.
Ambition is an earnest desire for achievement. Both texts are self reflexive and emphasise Richard’s obsessive ambition, desire and longing for the throne. Each Richard strives towards capturing the throne regardless of consequences and bloodshed. Richard is depicted in both texts as an ambitious character who strives to gain power and independence through deception and self confessed villainy. ‘Since I cannot prove a lover. . . I am determined to prove a villain’ This obsession which drives Richard to commit horrific evils to gain and then protect his claim to the throne. His ambition, power and evil blinds him and inevitably is responsible for his downfall in both of the texts. A connection is formed between Looking for Richard and King Richard III in the final scenes Al Pacino’s interpretation and ‘Hollywood’ background influences an ending which can be interpreted as portraying Richmond as a coward. Elizabethan audiences
* Lady Anne scene – Richard turns from the monstrous Machiavellian character we see throughout most of the play, into a romantic wooer. He uses rhetorical language such as pathos to connect with her emotions which assists him in essentially ‘capturing’ Lady Anne. The fact that Richard had just killed her husband King Edward, with her still being with his coffin just makes Richard seem even more powerful as he still manages to pull Lady Anne into marrying him. Although in this scene Lady Anne proves to hold the knowledge of language too as there is constant stichomythia between the two characters through most of the scene but the line which best shows this is when Richard says “Bid me kill myself. I will do it.” And
Richard speaks about how people see him as a curse to the land and how he is unfit to be there. He does not like that and to prove everybody wrong, he will rise up to be king, no matter what he has to do. He even stated in his opening soliloquy that he will, “set my brother Clarence and the King, / In deadly hate the one against the other.” (I.i. 35-36). He can’t live his whole life being told he is a villian just because of his deformity.
Richard the Lionhearted was not do much of anything for the people of England or for England in general. When he became king of England he devoted his life to the Third Crusade which was started because Saladin, the leader of the Muslim armies, captured and took over Jerusalem. He did not care about the future of England, and used all the money he could to buy things for the Crusade. He was also competing with French, German, and English powers for the title of getting Jerusalem back. People think that Richard the Lionhearted plotted Conrad’s, the German who was trying to get Jerusalem,
Richard was the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and he was given the duchy of Aquitaine, his mother’s inheritance, at the age of 11 and was enthroned as duke at Poitiers in 1172. Richard possessed precocious political and military ability, he won fame for his knightly prowess, and quickly learned how to control the
Already knowing how and why he had lost the country, he had yet obtained the knowledge as to who he had lost the country to. When he returned from Ireland, he saw that his cousin Henry Bolingbroke had taken his throne. Henry Bolingbroke had been waiting for the right time to step in and take the throne from King Richard II. While King Richard II was away at war, Henry Bolingbroke sought the perfect opportunity to take his place on the throne. He could take over and lead the country that he thought was rightfully his. “Bolingbroke’s motives are also often called unclear. He has no monologues that demonstrate his ambition ever to become king in the course of the play…” (Lighterfeld, 2016). People believed that Henry Bolingbroke had not clearly stated that he was out for the throne during the play, but from what he does the way he acts after I believe that he was clearly out for the throne. After all, are not all royal families depicted as thirsty for their crown of fame, ruling a country desiring to be a king. Henry Bolingbroke wants to be a better king and truly believes that he can take the throne and rule a better country then his cousin. While King Richard II thinks otherwise, “Strives Bolingbroke to be as great as we? Greater he shall not be…” (Bevington, 2014). King Richard II was definitely bitter about Henry Bolingbroke taking the throne away from him. Even though he had done an awful job at reigning over the country himself and truly should not be judging someone for the way they will reign, he did. Henry Bolingbroke did ask for King Richard II to feel that way towards him when he stepped in and took over the throne behind his own cousin’s back. In a deranged sort of way, I feel it is very normal for someone to feel and maybe even hope that the person that betrayed them would
A defining feature between these two men’s fate is Richard’s dependence on good fortune through divine intervention, whereas Henry and Machiavelli rely on free will, what they themselves can do to manipulate the situation. Richard calls upon God to defend him, thinking that he can manipulate God’s will to fit his desires, “angels fight, weak men must fall, for heaven still guards the right” (III.ii pg 409) This idea of unearthly abilities that allow him to manipulate nature itself, even England is stupid and shows how incompetent he is. Compared to Henry in this play, he is someone who wants to serve England, not how England can serve them; in other words what you can do for your country. Machiavelli states that “so long as fortune varies, and men stand still, they will prosper while they suit the times, and fail when they do not”, Richard in all ways fills this statement, his reliance on fortune seals his fate in the end (Machiavelli 148). Shakespeare shows this antiquated idea to show how much England needed a change of leadership and rule, the end of medievalism and the rise of Machiavellianism.
Shakespeare adapts these tenants to construct a power thirsty character. Consequently, while the London elite was introduced to these ideals, Shakespeare shaped the overall plot of the play to exemplify the discussed the power quest introduced by Machiavelli. This results in Richard’s actions that lead him to kill his brother and manipulate his family into getting the throne.
A general conclusion of most critics is that Richard II is a play about the deposition of a "weak and effeminate" king. That he was a weak king, will be conceded. That he was an inferior person, will not. The insight to Richard's character and motivation is to view him as a person consistently acting his way through life. Richard was a man who held great love for show and ceremony. This idiosyncrasy certainly led him to make decisions as king that were poor, and in effect an inept ruler. If not for this defect in character, Richard could be viewed as a witty, intelligent person, albeit ill-suited for his inherited occupation.
As Machiavellians, Richard III and Henry V become actors, acting differently in certain situations to be able so that they will benefit, but in these situations Henry V has noble aims. Richard’s goal just seems to become the King(1.1.140-148). In a true Machiavellian fashion, he deceives several people like his brothers and the common people to try and advance his goal. When he is talking with Clarence his imprisoned brother he tells him, “your imprisonment shall not be long; I will deliver you.” He is