Act and Scene Divisions were provided in the Folio in a much more thoroughgoing way than in the Quartos. Sometimes, however, they were erroneous or omitted; corrections and additions supplied by editorial tradition are indicated by square brackets. Five-act division is based on a classical model, and act breaks provided the opportunity to replace the candles in the indoor Blackfriars playhouse that the King’s Men used after 1608, but Shakespeare did not necessarily think in terms of a five-part structure of dramatic composition. The Folio convention is that a scene ends when the stage is empty. Nowadays, partly under the influence of film, we tend to consider a scene to be a dramatic unit that ends with either a change of imaginary location or a significant passage of time within the narrative. Shakespeare’s fluidity of composition accords well with this convention, so in addition to act and scene numbers we provide a running scene count in the right margin at the beginning of each new scene, in the typeface used for editorial directions. Where there is a scene break caused by a momentary bare stage, but the location does not change and extra time does not pass, we use the convention running scene continues. There is inevitably a degree of editorial judgment in making such calls, but the system is very valuable in suggesting the pace of the plays.
Speakers’ Names are often inconsistent in Folio. We have regularized speech headings, but retained an element of deliberate inconsistency in entry directions, in order to give the flavor of Folio. Thus BULLINGBROOK is always so-called in speech headings but “the Duke of Hereford” on occasion in entry directions.
Verse is indicated by lines that do not run to the right margin and by capitalization of each line. The Folio printers sometimes set verse as prose, and vice versa (either out of misunderstanding or for reasons of space). We have silently corrected in such cases, although in some instances there is ambiguity, in which case we have leaned toward the preservation of Folio layout. Folio sometimes uses contraction (“turnd” rather than “turned”) to indicate whether or not the final “-ed” of a past participle is sounded, an area where there is variation for the sake of the five-beat iambic pentameter rhythm. We use the convention of a grave accent to indicate sounding (thus “turnèd” would be two syllables), but would urge actors not to overstress. In cases where one speaker ends with a verse half line and the next begins with the other half of the pentameter, editors since the late eighteenth century have indented the second line. We have abandoned this convention, since the Folio does not use it, nor did actors’ cues in the Shakespearean theater. An exception is made when the second speaker actively interrupts or completes the first speaker’s sentence.
Spelling is modernized, but older forms are occasionally maintained where necessary for rhythm or aural effect.
Punctuation in Shakespeare’s time was as much rhetorical as grammatical. “Colon” was originally a term for a unit of thought in an argument. The semicolon was a new unit of punctuation (some of the Quartos lack them altogether). We have modernized punctuation throughout, but have given more weight to Folio punctuation than many editors, since, though not Shakespearean, it reflects the usage of his period. In particular, we have used the colon far more than many editors: it is exceptionally useful as a way of indicating how many Shakespearean speeches unfold clause by clause in a developing argument that gives the illusion of enacting the process of thinking in the moment. We have also kept in mind the origin of punctuation in classical times as a way of assisting the actor and orator: the comma suggests the briefest of pauses for breath, the colon a middling one, and a full stop or period a longer pause. Semicolons, by contrast, belong to an era of punctuation that was only just coming in during Shakespeare’s time and that is coming to an end now: we have accordingly only used them where they occur in our copy texts (and not always then). Dashes are sometimes used for parenthetical interjections where the Folio has brackets. They are also used for interruptions and changes in train of thought. Where a change of addressee occurs within a speech, we have used a dash preceded by a period (or occasionally another form of punctuation). Often the identity of the respective addressees is obvious from the context. When it is not, this has been indicated in a marginal stage direction.
Entrances and Exits are fairly thorough in Folio, which has accordingly been followed as faithfully as possible. Where characters are omitted or corrections are necessary, this is indicated by square brackets (e.g. “[and Attendants]”). Exit is sometimes silently normalized to Exeunt and Manet anglicized to “remains.” We trust Folio positioning of entrances and exits to a greater degree than most editors.
Editorial Stage Directions such as stage business, asides, indications of addressee and of characters’ position on the gallery stage are only used sparingly in Folio. Other editions mingle directions of this kind with original Folio and Quarto directions, sometimes marking them by means of square brackets. We have sought to distinguish what could be described as directorial interventions of this kind from Folio-style directions (either original or supplied) by placing them in the right margin in a different typeface. There is a degree of subjectivity about which directions are of which kind, but the procedure is intended as a reminder to the reader and the actor that Shakespearean stage directions are often dependent upon editorial inference alone and are not set in stone. We also depart from editorial tradition in sometimes admitting uncertainty and thus printing permissive stage directions, such as an Aside? (often a line may be equally effective as an aside or as a direct address—it is for each production or reading to make its own decision) or a may exit or a piece of business placed between arrows to indicate that it may occur at various different moments within a scene.
Explanatory Notes explain allusions and gloss obsolete and difficult words, confusing phraseology, occasional major textual cruces, and so on. Particular attention is given to non-standard usage, bawdy innuendo, and technical terms (e.g. legal and military language). Where more than one sense is given, commas indicate shades of related meaning, slashes alternative or double meanings.
Textual Notes at the end of the play indicate major departures from the Folio. They take the following form: the reading of our text is given in bold and its source given after an equals sign, with “Q” indicating that it derives from the First Quarto of 1597, “F” from the First Folio of 1623, “F2” a correction introduced in the Second Folio of 1632, and “Ed” from the subsequent editorial tradition. The rejected Folio (“F”) reading is then given. We have also included noteworthy rejected readings, for example Act 5 Scene 5 line 31: “5.5.31 prison = F. Q = person.” This indicates that we have preferred the Folio reading “prison” but noted the frequently adopted and interestingly different Quarto reading “person.”
KEY FACTS
MAJOR PARTS (with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes on stage): King Richard II (27%/98/9), Henry Bullingbrook (15%/90/8), Duke of York (10%/54/8), John of Gaunt (7%/28/4), Northumberland (5%/38/6), Mowbray (5%/13/2), Queen (4%/25/4), Aumerle (3%/38/7), Duchess of York (3%/28/2), Bishop of Carlisle (2%/6/2), Duchess of Gloucester (2%/4/1), Gardener (2%/6/1).
LINGUISTIC MEDIUM: 100% verse, with high proportion of rhyme.
DATE: 1595–96. Registered for publication August 1597. Written after Samuel Daniel’s First Four Books of the Civil Wars (registered October 1594, apparently published 1595); perhaps postdates renowned Accession Day tilts of November 1595. Described in February 1601 as “old and long out of use.”
SOURCES: Primary source is the account of the last two years of Richard’s reign in Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587 edition), supplemented—especially for various details in the final act—by Samuel Daniel’s First Four Books of the Civil Wars Between the Two Houses of Lancaster and York (1594–95). Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II (1592?) was a major dramatic influence, both structurally (the fall of a weak king and the rise of his rival) and thematically (flatterers, Irish wars, a marginalized queen). Some scholars also detect the influence of the anonymous chronicle play of Woodstock: as well as verbal
parallels, there are resemblances between Shakespeare’s John of Gaunt and this play’s Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, but recent scholarship suggests that Shakespeare’s play precedes Woodstock, not vice versa. The garden scene is apparently without source, though the comparison between a disordered state and an overgrown garden was traditional.
TEXT: First printed in Quarto in 1597, with text deriving from Shakespeare’s working manuscript or a transcription of it; the deposition scene was, however, omitted for reasons of censorship. The First Quarto was reprinted several times (Second and Third Quartos, 1598; Fourth Quarto, 1608; Fifth Quarto, 1615). These later Quartos correct a few obvious errors in the First Quarto, but introduce many misprints. The Second Quarto was one of the first printed play texts to include Shakespeare’s name on the title page. The Fourth Quarto printed the deposition sequence for the first time, but in a defective text. The Folio text seems to have been printed from the Third Quarto (though a few editors argue that it was based on either the Fifth Quarto or a defective copy of the Third Quarto with the missing final leaves made up from the Fifth Quarto), but the Folio editor also consulted a manuscript closely related to theatrical production, perhaps the company “playbook.” The Folio restored many First Quarto readings that had been corrupted in later Quartos, printed a good text of the deposition scene for the first time, added and systematized stage directions, made some alterations to staging for the sake of clarification, introduced act divisions, replaced “God” with “heaven” in accordance with the 1606 Act to Restrain Abuses, made a few verbal alterations, and omitted about fifty lines (these mostly seem to be deliberate theatrical cuts, though a clutch of individual lines might have been dropped inadvertently). Most modern editions are based on the First Quarto, with the deposition scene, stage directions, and many individual readings taken from the Folio. Our text resists this sort of conflation and is based on Folio, with the correction of manifest printers’ errors. The Quarto-only passages are given at the end of the play.
GENEALOGY: See William Shakespeare: Complete Works, pp. 2476–7.
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND
LIST OF PARTS
KING RICHARD II of England
QUEEN, Richard’s wife
John of GAUNT, Duke of Lancaster, Richard’s uncle
Henry BULLINGBROOK, Duke of Hereford, John of Gaunt’s son, later King Henry IV
Duke of YORK, Edmund of Langley, Richard’s uncle
DUCHESS OF YORK, his wife
Duke of AUMERLE, their son and Earl of Rutland
DUCHESS of Gloucester, widow of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester (Richard’s uncle)
Thomas MOWBRAY, Duke of Norfolk
Earl of SALISBURY
Duke of SURREY
Lord BERKELEY
Bishop of CARLISLE
ABBOT of Westminster
Sir Stephen SCROOP
BUSHY
BAGOT
GREEN
Earl of NORTHUMBERLAND
Harry PERCY, Northumberland’s son
Lord ROSS
Lord WILLOUGHBY
Lord FITZWATERS
Sir Piers of EXTON
LORD
LORD MARSHAL
TWO HERALDS
CAPTAIN of the Welsh army
TWO LADIES attending the Queen
GARDENER
SERVANT to the Gardener
SERVANT to York
KEEPER of the prison at Pomfret Castle
TWO SERVANTS to Exton
GROOM of Richard’s stable
Various Soldiers, Attendants, Lords
QUEEN unnamed on stage; the historical Richard’s wife at the end of his reign was Isabel of Valois, a child; in portraying an adult queen and a close marriage, the play seems to conflate Isabel with Richard’s deceased first wife, Anne of Bohemia.
Act 1 Scene 1
running scene 1
Location: the court of King Richard II
Enter King Richard, John of Gaunt, with other Nobles and Attendants
KING RICHARD Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster,
Hast thou2 according to thy oath and band
Brought hither Henry Hereford3 thy bold son,
Here to make good the boist’rous4 late appeal,
Which then our5 leisure would not let us hear,
Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
GAUNT I have, my liege7.
KING RICHARD Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded8 him,
If he appeal the duke on ancient9 malice,
Or worthily, as a good subject should,
On some known ground11 of treachery in him?
GAUNT As near as I could sift12 him on that argument,
On some apparent13 danger seen in him
Aimed at your highness, no inveterate14 malice.
KING RICHARD Then call them to our presence.
[Exit an Attendant]
Face to face,
And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
Th’accuser and the accusèd freely speak;
High-stomached18 are they both, and full of ire,
In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.
Enter Bullingbrook and Mowbray
BULLINGBROOK Many years of happy days befall
My gracious21 sovereign, my most loving liege!
MOWBRAY Each day still22 better other’s happiness
Until the heavens, envying earth’s good hap23,
Add an immortal title24 to your crown!
KING RICHARD We thank you both. Yet one but25 flatters us,
As well appeareth26 by the cause you come,
Namely, to appeal27 each other of high treason.
Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object28
Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
BULLINGBROOK First, heaven be the record30 to my speech!
In the devotion of a subject’s love,
Tend’ring32 the precious safety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten33 hate,
Come I appellant34 to this princely presence.
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark36 my greeting well, for what I speak
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine soul answer38 it in heaven.
Thou art a traitor and a miscreant39;
Too good40 to be so and too bad to live,
Since the more fair and crystal41 is the sky,
The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.
Once more, the more to aggravate43 the note,
With a foul traitor’s name stuff I thy throat;
And wish — so please my sovereign — ere45 I move,
What my tongue speaks my right46 drawn sword may prove.
MOWBRAY Let not my cold47 words here accuse my zeal:
’Tis not the trial48 of a woman’s war,
The bitter clamour of two eager49 tongues,
Can arbitrate50 this cause betwixt us twain.
The blood51 is hot that must be cooled for this.
Yet can I not of such tame patience boast
As to be hushed and nought at all to say.
First, the fair reverence of54 your highness curbs me
From giving reins and spurs to my free speech,
Which else56 would post until it had returned
These terms of treason doubly down his throat.
Setting aside his high blood’s royalty58,
And let59 him be no kinsman to my liege,
I do defy60 him, and I spit at him,
Call him a slanderous coward and a villain,
Which to maintain I would allow him odds62,
And meet63 him, were I tied to run afoot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable65
Wherever Englishman durst66 set his foot.
Meantime, let this67 defend my loyalty:
By all my hopes most falsely doth he
lie.
BULLINGBROOK Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage69,
Throws down his gage
Disclaiming here the kindred of a king,
And lay aside my high blood’s royalty,
Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except72.
If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength
As to take up mine honour’s pawn74, then stoop.
By that and all the rites of knighthood else,
Will I make good76 against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoken, or thou canst devise77.
MOWBRAY I take it up, and by that sword I swear
Takes up gage
Which gently79 laid my knighthood on my shoulder,
I’ll answer thee in any fair degree80,
Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:
And when I mount, alive may I not light82,
If I be traitor or unjustly83 fight!
KING RICHARD What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray’s charge84?
It must be great that can inherit us85
So much as of a thought of ill in him.
BULLINGBROOK Look87 what I said: my life shall prove it true,
That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles88
In name of lendings89 for your highness’ soldiers,
The which he hath detained for lewd90 employments,
Like a false traitor and injurious91 villain.
Besides I say, and will in battle prove,
Or93 here or elsewhere to the furthest verge
That ever was surveyed by English eye,
That all the treasons for these eighteen years
Complotted96 and contrivèd in this land
Fetched97 from false Mowbray their first head and spring.
Further I say, and further will maintain
Upon his bad life to make all this good,
That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester100’s death,
Suggest101 his soon-believing adversaries,
And consequently, like a traitor coward,
Sluiced out103 his innocent soul through streams of blood:
Richard II Page 3
