RII July 11!

Can't wait to read this one with you! The character of Richard rides an emotional roller coaster as he wrestles with his natural body and his body politic. Shakespeare has given him moving and profound speeches that share his inner turmoil through lavish poetry. I really love this speech (which reminds me of Chance the Gardner in Being There!) where two gardeners talk in metaphor about the tottering state of the throne:

Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricocks,

Which, like unruly children, make their sire
Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight:
Give some supportance to the bending twigs.
Go thou, and like an executioner,
Cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays,
That look too lofty in our commonwealth:
All must be even in our government.
You thus employ'd, I will go root away
The noisome weeds, which without profit suck
The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers

They go on to lament that Richard hasn't been an attentive king and has consequently been deposed by Bolingbroke.

The character of Bolingbroke has been referred to as a "Machiavellian," do you agree? Leave your comments and join the conversation!

Niccolò Machiavelli