King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England (ruled 1377–1399) and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's successors: Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; and Henry V. It may not have been written as a stand-alone work.[citation needed]

Although the First Folio (1623) edition of Shakespeare's works lists the play as a history play, the earlier Quarto edition of 1597 calls it The tragedie of King Richard the second.

        Characters

    King Richard II

    John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster – Richard's uncle

    Duke of York – Richard's uncle

    Duke of Aumerle – York's son

    Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk

    Queen – Richard's wife (an unnamed composite of his first wife, Anne of Bohemia, and his second, Isabella of Valois, who was still a child at the time of his death)

    Duchess of York – York's wife (an unnamed composite of York's first wife, Infanta Isabella of Castile, and his second, Joan Holland)

    Duchess of Gloucester – widow of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, uncle to the king

Rebels

    Henry Bolingbroke – Duke of Hereford, son of John of Gaunt, later King Henry IV

    Earl of Northumberland

    Henry 'Hotspur' Percy – Northumberland's son

    Lord Ross

    Lord Willoughby

    Lord Fitzwater

    Sir Piers Exton

Richard's allies

    Duke of Surrey

    Earl of Salisbury

    Lord Berkeley

    Bushy – favourite of Richard

    Bagot[1] – favourite of Richard

    Green – favourite of Richard

    Bishop of Carlisle

    Abbot of Westminster

    Sir Stephen Scroop

Others

    Lord Marshal (post held in 1399 by Duke of Surrey, though this is not recognised in the play)

    Welsh captain

    Two heralds

    Gardener

    Gardener's man

    Queen's ladies

    Keeper – jailer at Pomfret prison

    Groom

    Attendants, lords, soldiers, messengers, etc.

    

            Synopsis

The play spans only the last two years of Richard's life, from 1398 to 1400. The first Act begins with King Richard sitting majestically on his throne in full state, having been requested that he arbitrate a dispute between Thomas Mowbray and Richard's cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who has accused Mowbray of squandering money given to him by Richard for the King's soldiers and of murdering his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester. Bolingbroke's father, John of Gaunt, meanwhile, believes it was Richard himself who was responsible for his brother's murder. After several attempts to calm both men, Richard acquiesces and Bolingbroke and Mowbray challenge each other to a duel, over the objections of both Richard and Gaunt.

The tournament scene is very formal with a long, ceremonial introduction, but as the combatants begin to fight, Richard interrupts and sentences both to banishment from England. Bolingbroke is originally sentenced to leave for ten years, but Richard changes this to six years, while Mowbray is banished permanently. The king's decision can be seen as the first mistake in a series leading eventually to his overthrow and death, since it is an error which highlights many of his character flaws, displaying as it does indecisiveness (both in terms of whether to allow the duel to go ahead and in terms of how long to exile Bolingbroke for), abruptness (Richard waits until the last possible moment to cancel the duel), and arbitrariness (there is no apparent reason why Bolingbroke should be allowed to return and Mowbray not). In addition, the decision fails to dispel the suspicions surrounding Richard's involvement in the death of the Duke of Gloucester - in fact, by handling the situation so high-handedly and offering no coherent explanation for his reasoning, Richard only manages to appear more guilty. Mowbray predicts that the king will sooner or later fall at the hands of Bolingbroke.

John of Gaunt dies and Richard II seizes all of his land and money. This angers the nobility, who accuse Richard of wasting England's money, of taking Gaunt's money (belonging by rights to his son, Bolingbroke) to fund war in Ireland, of taxing the commoners, and of fining the nobles for crimes committed by their ancestors. They then help Bolingbroke secretly return to England in a plan to overthrow Richard II. There remain, however, subjects who continue faithful to the King, among them Bushy, Bagot, Green and the Duke of Aumerle (son of the Duke of York), cousin of both Richard and Bolingbroke. When King Richard leaves England to administer the war in Ireland, Bolingbroke seizes the opportunity to assemble an army and invades the north coast of England. Executing both Bushy and Green, he wins over the Duke of York, whom Richard has left in charge of his government in his absence.

Upon Richard's return, Bolingbroke not only reclaims his lands but lays claim to the very throne. Crowning himself King Henry IV, he has Richard taken prisoner to the castle of Pomfret. Aumerle and others plan a rebellion against the new king, but York discovers his son's treachery and reveals it to Henry, who spares Aumerle as a result of the intercession of the Duchess of York while executing the other conspirators. After interpreting King Henry's "living fear" as a reference to the still-living Richard, an ambitious nobleman (Exton) goes to the prison and murders him. King Henry repudiates the murderer and vows to journey to Jerusalem to cleanse himself of his part in Richard's death.