Product Description

This is the latest edition in this successful series. It is fully annotated, with the notes facing the text. There are helpful sections at the front, and at the back there is a very wide range of questions for students, as well as the background to Shakespeare's England.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #434870 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of Shakespeare's finest history plays, Richard II deals with one of the most sensitive and politically explosive issues of its day--the rights and wrongs of deposing a legitimately appointed king. Forerunner to the two parts of Henry IV, the play deals with the abdication of King Richard II in 1399, the subsequent succession of Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV, and Richard's death in the spring of 1400. But the play has been celebrated above and beyond its stature as historical drama. Richard II begins with a portrait of Richard as a pompous, arrogant and self-regarding sovereign, with little sense of his people or his political responsibilities. As he consistently miscalculates in his attempts to destroy Bolingbroke, and watches his own power wane, he becomes a far more appealing, Hamlet-like figure, more interested in "talk of graves, of worms and epitaphs", and "sad stories of the death of kings". Richard's speeches become increasingly lyrical and poetic as his supporters desert him, until he finally takes on the stature of the pilloried Christ in the climax of the play, the deposition scene, one of the most politically risky scenes in all of Shakespeare. The play remains most famous for John of Gaunt's "This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle" speech, but historians believe that the play was also performed in the streets of London in 1601 in support of the Earl of Essex's attempt to depose Elizabeth I. Whilst the plot failed, it showed the power of the theatre of the time, and the politically controversial nature of Shakespeare's play. --Jerry Brotton

Customer Reviews

Arden Shakespeare
In some respects I think it'd be rather presumptuous of me to attempt to review Shakespeare. Someone so well known and influential wouldn't benefit from my opinions on their work, plus there are more scholarly and concise reviews out there. But I can comment on these Arden versions. Of all the Shakespeare I've read I've always found the Arden copies to be well laid out and to have excellent commentary and notes on the text. They really add to your understanding of Shakespeares outstanding plays and introduce you to the depth in his work. They have superb paper quality and are bound well, withstanding repeated readings and intensive study. For your collection of Shakespeare you can't do much better than Arden publications, some are quite hard to get hold of but it's worth the effort.

Shakespeare at his most cryptic.
Richard II is one of the most cryptic plays I have ever read ... which is why I love it so much. A quick synopsis: the real-life struggle between the young King Richard II (R2) and his somewhat more popular cousin, Henry Bolingbroke (BB). Throughout the play, your sympathies tend to fluctuate with R2, but is BB all sweetness and light as well?

It's an enormous challenge to unlock all of Shakespeare's hidden messages in R2, but if you are willing to accept the challenge, it is incredibly rewarding for your exams. Most people I know are put off by the lack of action here, which is true, but in any case a comic book style exam answer isn't going to impress the examiner: a very detailed, thought-out and prudent response will, and R2 gives many easy opportunities for that. For once in my life, I didn't feel like doing a Blackadder and smacking the Bard in the face after reading this play!

And if you're still not impressed, just watch the BBC's version with Derek Jacobi as R2 in all his hamminess!!