Study Questions

1. Why does John of Gaunt hope that King Richard will visit him on his deathbed?

2. What possessions does King Richard seize after Gaunt dies?

3. Who does King Richard appoint Lord Governor of England in his absence?

4. What news does the Earl of Northumberland share with Lord Willoughby and Lord Ross?

5. Why has Bolingbroke delayed his arrival in England?

6. What reasons does the Queen give to explain her sadness?

7. What information does Sir Henry Green deliver to the Queen?

8. Whose death does the Servingman report to the Duke of York?

9. hat does the Duke of York tell Bolingbroke his official position will be in Bolingbroke’s conflict with King Richard?

10. hat omens have made the Welsh Captain believe that King Richard is dead?

Answers

1. John of Gaunt hopes that King Richard will visit him on his deathbed so that he might “breathe my last/ In wholesome counsel” to the King. Although Richard has, in the past, paid little heed to his advice, Gaunt believes that he will pay attention to the words of a dying man.

2. After Gaunt dies, King Richard seizes his “plate, his goods, his money, and his lands.”

3. King Richard appoints his uncle, the Duke of York, as Lord Governor of England.

4. The Earl of Northumberland tells Willoughby and Ross that Bolingbroke, along with a number of noblemen loyal to his cause and an army of three thousand men, has set sail from France. He and his supporters will soon arrive in England.

5. Bolingbroke is waiting for the King and his army to depart for Ireland so they will not be able to offer resistance when he lands.

6. The Queen is sad because the King has departed for Ireland. She is also sad because she foresees that “Some unborn sorrow in Fortune’s womb is coming towards me.”

7. Green brings the news that Henry Bolingbroke, armed for combat, has landed safely at Ravenspurgh, on the northern coast. He also tells the Queen that the Earl of North¬umberland, his son Harry Percy, and a number of other noblemen have allied with Bolingbroke’s cause.

8. The Servingman tells York that his sister-in-law, the Duchess of Gloucester, is dead.

9. York tells Bolingbroke that he plans to be neutral in the
conflict.

10. The Welsh Captain reports that “The bay trees in our country are all withered,/ And meteors fright the fixèd stars of heaven,/ The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth,/ And lean-looked prophets whisper fearful change.” These signs, he remarks, “foretell the death or fall of kings.” Moreover, his countrymen believe that the King is dead.