Richard II (c. 1595) — The Deposition Scene¶

Author: William Shakespeare
Type: Drama · History play (excerpt: Act 4, Scene 1)
Published: Written c. 1595; printed 1597 — the deposition scene was left out of every printed edition until 1608
Copyright: Public domain
Era/Period: WH Era 2 — English monarchy and the question of who may remove a king (the play's own politics touched 1601)
ELA Standards: 9-10.R.7 · 9-10.R.8 · 9-10.R.9
WH Standards: WH.6_12.2 · WH.6_12.3
Studio: WH-04 · One Idea, 130 Years of War — pairs with Luther's 95 Theses and the Declaration of the Rights of Man

Studio 2 (WH-02) · The Rights We Wrote Down

Pairs with: Magna Carta (1215) · Level: Phoenix

When people write down their rights, what changes — and what doesn't? — Magna Carta put limits on a king. Here a king is removed — and forced to read a written list of his crimes. Who gets to decide when a ruler has broken the rules?

See the WH-02 Literature Lens.

What This Text Is About¶

King Richard II has been forced from power by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke. In this scene Richard is brought in to hand over the crown in public. He turns the ceremony into a performance of grief — "Now mark me how I will undo myself" — and when the Earl of Northumberland pushes a written list of his crimes at him to read aloud, so that the deposition will look lawful, Richard refuses and calls for a mirror instead.

Read It¶

Public domain — excerpt from Act 4, Scene 1.

Enter York with King Richard and Officers bearing the Crown, &c.

King Richard. Alack, why am I sent for to a king
Before I have shook off the regal thoughts
Wherewith I reigned? I hardly yet have learned
To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my knee.
Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me
To this submission. Yet I well remember
The favours of these men. Were they not mine?
Did they not sometime cry “All hail!” to me?
So Judas did to Christ, but He in twelve,
Found truth in all but one; I, in twelve thousand, none.
God save the King! Will no man say, “Amen”?
Am I both priest and clerk? Well then, amen.
God save the King, although I be not he,
And yet, Amen, if heaven do think him me.
To do what service am I sent for hither?

York. To do that office of thine own good will
Which tired majesty did make thee offer:
The resignation of thy state and crown
To Henry Bolingbroke.

King Richard. Give me the crown. Here, cousin, seize the crown.
Here, cousin,
On this side my hand, and on that side thine.
Now is this golden crown like a deep well
That owes two buckets, filling one another,
The emptier ever dancing in the air,
The other down, unseen, and full of water.
That bucket down and full of tears am I,
Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.

Bolingbroke. I thought you had been willing to resign.

King Richard. My crown I am, but still my griefs are mine.
You may my glories and my state depose,
But not my griefs; still am I king of those.

Bolingbroke. Part of your cares you give me with your crown.

King Richard. Your cares set up do not pluck my cares down.
My care is loss of care, by old care done;
Your care is gain of care, by new care won.
The cares I give I have, though given away;
They ’tend the crown, yet still with me they stay.

Bolingbroke. Are you contented to resign the crown?

King Richard. Ay, no; no, ay; for I must nothing be.
Therefore no “no”, for I resign to thee.
Now mark me how I will undo myself:
I give this heavy weight from off my head,
And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand,
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,
With mine own breath release all duteous oaths.
All pomp and majesty I do forswear;
My manors, rents, revenues, I forgo;
My acts, decrees, and statutes, I deny.
God pardon all oaths that are broke to me;
God keep all vows unbroke are made to thee.
Make me, that nothing have, with nothing grieved,
And thou with all pleased that hast all achieved.
Long mayst thou live in Richard’s seat to sit,
And soon lie Richard in an earthly pit!
God save King Henry, unkinged Richard says,
And send him many years of sunshine days!
What more remains?

Northumberland.

[Offering a paper.] No more, but that you read These accusations, and these grievous crimes
Committed by your person and your followers
Against the state and profit of this land;
That, by confessing them, the souls of men
May deem that you are worthily deposed.

King Richard. Must I do so? And must I ravel out
My weaved-up follies? Gentle Northumberland,
If thy offences were upon record,
Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop
To read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst,
There shouldst thou find one heinous article
Containing the deposing of a king
And cracking the strong warrant of an oath,
Marked with a blot, damned in the book of heaven.
Nay, all of you that stand and look upon me
Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself,
Though some of you, with Pilate, wash your hands,
Showing an outward pity, yet you Pilates
Have here delivered me to my sour cross,
And water cannot wash away your sin.

Northumberland. My lord, dispatch. Read o’er these articles.

King Richard. Mine eyes are full of tears; I cannot see:
And yet salt water blinds them not so much
But they can see a sort of traitors here.
Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself,
I find myself a traitor with the rest;
For I have given here my soul’s consent
T’ undeck the pompous body of a king,
Made glory base and sovereignty a slave,
Proud majesty a subject, state a peasant.

Northumberland. My lord—

King Richard. No lord of thine, thou haught insulting man,
Nor no man’s lord! I have no name, no title,
No, not that name was given me at the font,
But ’tis usurped. Alack the heavy day!
That I have worn so many winters out
And know not now what name to call myself.
O, that I were a mockery king of snow,
Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke,
To melt myself away in water-drops!
Good king, great king, and yet not greatly good,
An if my word be sterling yet in England,
Let it command a mirror hither straight,
That it may show me what a face I have,
Since it is bankrupt of his majesty.

Bolingbroke. Go, some of you, and fetch a looking-glass.

[Exit an Attendant.]

Northumberland. Read o’er this paper while the glass doth come.

King Richard. Fiend, thou torments me ere I come to hell!

Bolingbroke. Urge it no more, my Lord Northumberland.

Northumberland. The commons will not then be satisfied.

King Richard. They shall be satisfied. I’ll read enough
When I do see the very book indeed
Where all my sins are writ, and that’s myself.

Re-enter Attendant with glass.

Give me that glass, and therein will I read.

— William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act 4, Scene 1

Why It Matters¶

This scene was considered so dangerous that it was cut from every printed copy of the play while Queen Elizabeth I was alive — a monarch being deposed on stage was not something the government wanted readers to have. On February 7, 1601, supporters of the Earl of Essex paid Shakespeare's company to perform Richard II at the Globe, the day before Essex led a failed rebellion against the queen. Months later Elizabeth is reported to have said, "I am Richard II, know ye not that?"

The Essential Question — Can one document change the world — and if so, how?¶

Two documents fight inside this scene: the crown itself, and the paper of accusations Richard refuses to read. Outside the play, Essex's rebels treated the whole play as a document they could use. Ask: can a play change the world? Why would a government censor a scene — and what does censorship tell you about how powerful people believe words are?

ELA Standards Connection¶

Standard	Connection
9-10.R.7	Repetition: "With mine own tears... With mine own hands... With mine own tongue." How does Richard make giving up power sound like a ritual?
9-10.R.8	Character: is Richard pitiful, manipulative, or both? How does Shakespeare complicate the audience's sympathy?
9-10.R.9	The paper of accusations: why does Northumberland need Richard to read it aloud? What does a public confession do?

WH.6_12.2 + Era 2 — The divine right of kings: if God anoints a king, can people remove him?

WH.6_12.3 + Era 2 — Political systems: monarchy, legitimacy, and the danger of a public deposition.

Key Vocabulary¶

Depose — to remove a ruler from power
Balm — the holy oil used to anoint a king at his coronation
Divine right — the belief that kings are chosen by God
Censor — to remove material considered dangerous

Studio Ideas¶

The censored scene — Why was this scene cut from print until 1608? Build an argument using the 1601 Essex performance.
Paper vs. crown — Richard gives up the crown but refuses to read the accusations. Which is the bigger surrender?
Luther and Richard — Both challenge who has authority — Luther the Pope, Bolingbroke the king. Compare how words are used in each.