This prompt asks you to take the full title of Richard II seriously by considering what it means to think of the title character–King Richard II–as a tragic figure. We suggest that you consider carefully the typical trajectory of the Shakespearean tragic hero, a great man of power and prestige who suffers a great fall due to some innate weakness or failure of vision on his part; usually prior to death, the character has a moment of self-recognition and philosophical clarity, where they grasp things intensely, truely, and belatedly…and then, death. If you are familiar with any of the great tragedies and their heroes–Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello–you will be well aware of this pattern. Does it apply to Richard II?
SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS:
To elaborate, we would want you to do several things in this essay.
First, you would need to identify the failings and problems of Richard, what it is that ails him or weakens him. Where does he go wrong, and how so? Are his problems self-inflicted, heaped on him by others, or both? (By the way, if you are working on this paper, and you know King Lear, it might well be your best comparison, as Lear and Richard share much in common.)
Secondly, you would need to think very carefully about Richard’s behavior with Bolingbroke and others before and during the deposition scene. What are we asked to make of his actions here–how culpable is he for allowing himself to be put in the place where he had to forfeit his crown to his stronger and more resolute cousin?
Finally, you would need to take apart Richard’s final scenes, his farewell to his wife, Isabel, and then his long soliloquy in the prison at Pomfret Castle, before he meets Exton and the other executioners.
Is Richard II a tragic hero, or is he just a foolish man who really would have been better off had he never been monarch of England? Comparison to Henry VI might prove useful, but be very careful if you choose to make such a comparison in your essays–the two men bear some similarities, but significant differences as well.