"Richard II" Reading Notes

The Set Up…

→ remember that Hereford = Bolingbroke = to-be Henry IV

1.1 Who killed Gloucester? (Gloucester was Richard and Bolingbroke’s uncle)

-Bolingbroke makes a charge against Mowbray, and Richard is implicitly guilty

1.3 Richard banishes both Bolingbroke (for 10 yrs., reduced to 6) and Mowbray

2.1 John of Gaunt, Bolingbroke’s father, dies and Richard confiscates his land & goods (otherwise known as Bolingbroke’s inheritance)

THE MAIN POLITICAL PLAYERS

Richard’s ‘Yes Men’ & Royal Supporters:

Bushy (dead after 3.1)
Green (dead after 3.1)
Bagot (kept alive and interrogated in 4.1)
Salisbury
Aumerle (York’s son, conspirator that Henry IV pardons in 5.3 thanks to mummy)
Bishop of Carlisle (conspirator exiled in 5.6: “though mine enemy thou hast ever been,/ High sparks of honor in thee have I seen” [5.6.28-29])
Abbot of Westminster
Scroop

Opposition to Richard & Supporters of Bolingbroke

Northumberland*
Harry Percy* (Northumberland’s son, known as Hotspur in 1 Henry IV)
Willoughby
Worcester*
Fitzwater (Act 5)
Exton (believes Henry IV tells him to kill Richard; does so; is banished in 5.6)

* indicates that this character will oppose and rebel against Bolingbroke/Henry IV in the next play, I Henry IV [see Richard’s prophecy at Richard II 5.1.55-68]

The Aloof Bystander & Moral Barometer in the Play:

York: “Be it known unto you/ I do remain as neuter” (2.3.158-9)
-finally sides with Bolingbroke in Act 5 and turns in Aumerle, his son,