Power and Betrayal in Shakespears Power and Betrayal.
Christina Kimerle December 2, 2003 Power and Betrayal One must know how to use betrayal and power to achieve goals. Shakespeare's Harry Bolingbroke and Archbishop of Canterbury use their keen sense of betrayal and power to achieve many of their goals. While trying to return from banishment, Bolingbroke betrays Richard II, and Bolingbroke uses his power to gain support for his confrontation with Richard. Archbishop of Canterbury betrays Henry V into thinking that he has claims to invade France. He then uses the power of his position to gain the support of the people and the nobles while encouraging a war with France. Shakespeare's Richard II begins with a dispute between nobles Bolingbroke and Mowbray, and from the outcome Richard will be betrayed by Bolingbroke. King Richard banishes both Bolingbroke and Mowbray as the result of the dispute. Bolingbroke's father, John Gaunt, dies leaving his inheritance within Richard's sight. Warning Richard of the consequences of stealing Bolingbroke's inheritance, the Duke of York says, If you do wrongfully seize Hereford's rights, Call in the letters patents that he hath By his attorneys general to sue His livery, and deny his offered homage, You pluck a thousand dangers on your head, You lose a thousand well-disposed hearts (2.1, 202-207). Bolingbroke believes that he deserves the right to come home to claim his father's
How is Richard II portrayed in Act I?
How is Richard Portrayed in Act I? In Act I of Richard II, Richard is portrayed as powerful, pompous and arrogant, all somewhat contrastingly to his portrayal towards the end of the play. We see even as early as Act I glimpses of Richard’s fatal flaws and the crucial mistakes he makes which determine his dramatic fall. The genre of the play is historic tragedy, so the audience know the main protagonist; in this case Richard; is doomed from the start. So, in Act 1 Shakespeare’s portrayal of him is not only purposeful for his fall, but also hugely ironic, making his descent to …… even more dramatic. Immediately in Act I, Richard’s power and authoritative presence is apparent. The setting in Windsor Castle is a very formal occasion, as Richard gives Bullingbrook and Mowbray a formal hearing. It is really overblown and grandeur setting for the opening scene and so even before any speech, Richard is perceived as being powerful and omnipotent. On stage Richard, is central and stationed upstage to observe the proceedings. When he descends from his raised platform (which was traditional) and walks downstage to stop the proceedings later in the scene, he travels quite a distance on stage, reinforcing his pivotal place on the stage and in the political picture. These proxemics physically symbolise how Richard was the most powerful, which is extremely ironic as at the end of
Write about the dramatic methods used by Shakespeare to portray the character of Queen Isabel.
Write about the dramatic methods used by Shakespeare to portray the character of Queen Isabel. Shakespeare uses dramatic methods in portraying the character of Queen Isabel to effectively express the particular importance of the character of the Queen in this play. Shakespeare imbues the character of the Queen with several qualities which are typical to her role. She is mainly portrayed as a figure of grief, along with such characters as the Duchess of York and the Duchess of Gloucester. Shakespeare creates Isabel as a choric figure, to add emotional colour to the plot. Isabel also serves Shakespeare as a dramatic device to evoke pathos from the audience for her husband Richard. In Isabel the audience are able to see Richard as a man, not just a fallen King. Through Isabel Shakespeare allows us to view Richard also as a husband and a lover, a more compassionate soul. Through this characterisation and Shakespeare's staging of certain key events we can appreciate Isabel's contribution the play. Though not a central figure, she compliments the character of Richard and expresses some important points about the conventional role of women. The passage in question occurs after Queen Isabel has overheard the news of Richard's abdication in Act 3 scene 4 and resolves " To meet at London London's king in woe", to hear the truth for herself, distressed at the news of her husband's
The Tragedy of King Richard the second - In what ways do the speeches of the characters help you to understand the relationships between Richard, Bolingbroke and Mowbray in the play as a whole?
Melissa Cherry The Tragedy of King Richard the second In what ways do the speeches of the characters help you to understand the relationships between Richard, Bolingbroke and Mowbray in the play as a whole? In this scene Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray are about to fight in the King's royal lists to settle a dispute that they had in the beginning of this act. We have learnt from previous scenes that the dispute they were having was over Bolingbroke's accusations to Mowbray. So now, they are both prepared to risk their lives in 'chivalrous design of knightly trial' to prove their honour and loyalty to the King. We learn very early in the play that they are stubborn and angry when Richard tells us that they are both 'high-stomach'd'. It's not surprising that Bolingbroke and Mowbray are 'foes' rather than friends. We know of the crimes that Mowbray is said to have committed and the crimes that he has definitely done, as Mowbray himself even confesses. Mowbray is accused of eighteen years of treason, steeling 'eight thousand nobles' and most serious of all, murdering the Duke of Gloucester. We know that Bolingbroke knows that it wasn't Mowbray who killed the Duke because it was commonly known that the King participated in the death of the Duke of Gloucester. But, it is 'The Divine Rights of Kings' that is holding Bolingbroke back from accusing the King. Though in