The Crown, the Mirror and the Clock: Shakespeare's Richard II | Adrian Poole, Trinity College, Cambridge
The Crown, the Mirror and the Clock: Shakespeare's Richard II
Adrian Poole, Trinity College, Cambridge
Imagine a promising actor given carte blanche to make his name with the role of a Shakespearean king. If he wanted to sport a recherché taste he might opt for Ferdinand, King of Navarre, in Love's Labour's Lost; if he were a dare-devil he might go for broke with Macbeth; perversity might point him towards Henry VI and cunning towards King John. But most young pretenders would find themselves hesitating between Richard III, Richard II and Henry V. Of these, the most difficult and perhaps the most tempting is Richard II.1
It is certainly easier to make a big hit with the other Richard. Richard HI grows out of the Richard of Gloucester we meet in the Henry VI plays, and there is an important moment half-way through Part III when he begins to seize the initiative. Up until now the world of these plays...
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