Richard the Second II: With mine own tears

Who are you if you don’t know who you are? That’s the question that our protagonist, Richard II, must ask himself as he is stripped of the only role he has ever played. Divinely ordained King of England. However, what is truly interesting about this play is it seems that losing his power only makes Richard more of an individual. Join us to see how the more this character suffers with the melancholy of existential confusion, the more Shakespeare’s audience - us included - can begin to relate to him. 

In this lesson, we will discuss:
• Richard’s humanity coming to replace his social role
• “Ay no; no ay” 🤷🏽‍♀️
• The significance of Bolingbrook’s silence as he takes the kingship from Richard 😶