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The text explains Richard as a flawed tragic hero: incompetent rule, moral responsibility, and the fatal influence of flatterers leading to his downfall. It contrasts Bolingbroke as a complex adversary, exploring political power, moral judgment, and the consequences of deposing God’s anointed king across the subsequent history plays.",{"@graph":69,"@context":114},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/aspects-of-tragedy-richard-ii/623222/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/aspects-of-tragedy-richard-ii/623222.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"LangkahRina","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-06","2026-10-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How does the guide portray Bolingbroke’s role in the play?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Bolingbroke is shown as a complex adversary with practical political skill and loyalty to England. Yet his deposition of Richard is treated as morally troubling, with consequences that echo through Henry IV and Henry V.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":116,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":118,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":120,"site_id":62},623222,1792667813,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":123},{"doc_id":120,"user_id":124,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":125,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":126,"file_id":127,"file_url":128,"file_type":129,"file_size":130,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":19,"language":131,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":132,"faqs":133,"seo_title":134,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":135,"read_time":52,"preview_page_count":4},962090893776,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Aspects of tragedy: Text overview-Richard II  \nRead our overview which shows how teachers can consider Richard II in relation to the genre of Tragedy. We haven’t covered every element of this genre. Instead we hope this guide will provide a springboard to help you plan, and to get you and your students thinking about the text in more detail.  \nOverview  \nAlthough categorised most commonly as a history play Richard II fruitfully rewards being studied through the lens of tragedy. It is a play whose protagonist is of high degree, whose fate affects many and whose character is fatally flawed. Richard is blind and foolish yet also gains nobility as the play progresses; this makes his fate lamentable and he is capable of inspiring pity and fear in the audience. He is a complex hero, just as Bolingbroke is a complex adversary, and the audience is left to ponder difficult moral issues, not the least of which is whether it is acceptable to depose God’s anointed representative on earth if he is in fact a bad king?  \nRichard as tragic hero  \nAt the start of the play Richard is presented as an inept king. Shakespeare makes it clear that although Richard views himself positively, he is actually weak, foolish and arrogant, mismanaging the realm and abusing his position of power. Richard, who should be the wise and steadfast leader of the country, is “basely led by flatterers” so that England is turned into a “pelting farm” of which he is merely the “landlord”. Shakespeare leaves no doubt in the audience’s minds that Richard is an ignoble monarch – he is implicated in the death of Gloucester, is callous in his treatment of his uncle Gaunt and illegally seizes the ‘plate, coin, revenues, and moveables’ on Gaunt’s death that rightly belong to Bolingbroke. As much as he delights in the trappings of kingship he fails to assume its responsibilities and, as the Gardeners point out, the country has grown to be“full of weeds” without due governance and control being exercised within it. His failings as a king mean that his country suffers.  \nDespite his incompetence and irresponsibility, Richard believes he is secure in his position as “God’s substitute”. He claims that “Not all the water in the rough rude sea/Can wash the balm off from an anointed king”, a view echoed by some of the other characters, including York and Carlisle. Yet in this belief he is deluded. Richard’s flaws are manifold: he is self-absorbed, self-deceiving and all too willing to be led by flatterers. His flaws lead to his downfall at the hands of  \nthe ambitious Bolingbroke. The dying Gaunt tells Richard that he is “in reputation sick” and that “A thousand flatterers” sit within his crown but Richard will not listen. In the end, Richard pays the ultimate price. He loses his crown to Bolingbroke and then is ignominiously hacked to death.  \nIt is unlikely that the audience feels sympathy for Richard at the start of the play but as his fate unfurls and the poet king reflects on his situation and dwells on his deposition, many may feel he gains self-knowledge and acquires the nobility he lacked when he actually wore the crown. The reference Richard makes to himself as a Christ like figure is often highlighted in performances of the play via costumes and lighting and this gives to the solitary figure of the deposed king agravitas and spiritual significance so lacking when he is first seen. Some audiences may feel Richard is merely a manipulator; a showman who is good with words, who can dramatise a situation and whose comparison of himself to Christ is arrogant and unjustified. Whatever the ultimate judgement, whether the audience concludes he is moving and majestic or wordy and self-indulgent, Richard emerges as a complex tragic figure and the audience is likely to modify its view of him as the play goes on.  \nBolingbroke as tragic adversary  \nIn some ways Bolingbroke is as complex an adversary as Richard is a hero. He can be seen almost as a saviour for England; certainly it seems","cbCairzOUaM5F4eC","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairzOUaM5F4eC","pdf",150202,"English","# Overview\n## Richard as tragic hero\n## Bolingbroke as tragic adversary","[{\"question\":\"How does the guide portray Bolingbroke’s role in the play?\",\"answer\":\"Bolingbroke is shown as a complex adversary with practical political skill and loyalty to England. Yet his deposition of Richard is treated as morally troubling, with consequences that echo through Henry IV and Henry V.\"}]","Aspects of tragedy - Richard II | PDF",1792467926]