Richard II

Richard II details the reign of the historical Richard II of England, who sat on the throne from 1377 to 1399, and his usurpation by Henry Bolingbroke, later King Henry IV. This deposition was a key moment in English history, as it marks the first major event of the drawn-out inter-noble conflict known as the Wars of the Roses.

It is the first play of what has become known as Shakespeare’s second tetralogy: after Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2 and Henry V follow on chronologically, detailing the continuing conflicts in the Wars of the Roses.

Probably composed between 1594 and 1595, Richard II bears considerable structural and stylistic similarities to Shakespeare’s lyrical, language-focused comedies of the same period, such as Love’s Labours Lost and A Midsummer Night’s Dream: it has two plots which tightly complement one another, and is written entirely in experimental, ornate verse: there’s no earthy prose to be found. The play’s central concern is, in many ways, the contrast between Richard’s skill with language and incompetency in ruling: these will meet their opposites in the cold, hard Bolingbroke.

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