Moreover, the study of Richard II has been minutely examined and developed under the lens of literary history and critical theories, ranging from new criticism, old historicism, new historicism, cultural materialism, to poststructuralism. The play ends with Henry IV planning a penitential pilgrimage to the Holy Land.Much of the scholarship 1 written on Richard II primarily gravitates towards the study of the play as history which bears relevance to the paranoid and unstable political climate of Tudor England, and specifically to the aborted Essex uprising orchestrated by Robert Devereaux to rebel against Queen Elizabeth in 1601 2. Sir Pierce of Exton decides solely on his own to execute the deposed king, and then, as a result, he is banished by King Henry. Richard is imprisoned in Pomfret Castle, where he faces his death alone, philosophically contemplating the meaning of his fall from grandeur. The rebel noblemen force the king to abdicate, and Bolingbroke is crowned as Henry IV. When Bolingbroke and his army decide to return from exile in France, the rebel forces prepare to confront Richard on his return from Ireland. Unhappy with Richard's incompetence as a ruler and worried by his seizure of the Duke of Lancaster's wealth, a number of nobles rally support for Henry Bolingbroke. When he dies, Richard takes possession of all of Gaunt's wealth and leaves for Ireland. Gaunt warns Richard with his dying words that he is flirting with danger and doing great harm to the country by allowing himself to be influenced by his sycophantic courtiers. Then the king makes plans to leave for the wars in Ireland.īefore departing, Richard visits the ailing father of Bolingbroke, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

On the field of combat, the king changes his mind and banishes the two men - Bolingbroke for ten years (commuted to six) and Mowbray for life. After attempts to reconcile them fail, Richard orders them to take part in a traditional chivalric trial by combat. Bolingbroke has accused Mowbray of treason, and the two of them exchange insults in the presence of King Richard.

The play opens with a dispute between Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, and Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.

William shakespeare richard 2