Anointed King

1330 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Dramatic techniques in richard II

Within Shakespeare’s play Richard II there are many questionable and untrusting characters. Truth and duty are only illusions within the play. Lust for power and control override the order of England and its ordained king. It’s believed that it is by the will of God that Richard is king. No mortal man can come between what God has set before them as rule. The final decision is God’s and the only way that God’s choice can be changed is by God himself, and no one else. God takes the Garden of Eden from Adam, and like Adam, England is taken from Richard. It is questionable if Bolingbroke acts against God’s will or through God’s will. Richard is king, and though a sad choice, he has been ordained by God as king and ruler of England. It is not for his followers to decide if he is to be replaced by someone that they feel would be a better caretaker of the “garden';. In Richard II , by overtaking the crown and replacing Richard with Bolingbroke, society is going against its own belief that Richard is ordained by God. From an Englishman’s point of view it could be argued that God is somewhat responsible for the state that England is in, because they believe Richard was chosen by God. Within Richard II , God is believed to be forsaken so that England can become a great kingdom again, and this is done in hope that Richard’s wrongs can be made right by Bolingbroke. Richard’s opposition - York, Bolingbroke, and Northumberland - believe that what they are doing is done to regenerate the badly tended “garden';. They want to replant it with Bolingbroke as king, and this they believe will restore England to order. By judging and replacing Richard they are going against what their society believes is God’s will. This is the worst mistake of all, because as the saying goes “two wrongs don’t make a right';. They are playing against a power far greater than anything they could imagine Richard being able to do. Their worries should not be of what Richard will do to them if they do not succeed, but what God will do to them at any given time. Northumberland tells of how the kingship will be restored and the garden revived. "If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke,/ Imp out our drooping country’s broken wing,/ Redeem from broking pawn the blemished crown,/ Wipe off the dust that hides our scepter’s gilt,/ And make high majesty look like itself," (Richard II II.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Archtypical Fathers in Henry IV and The Chrysalids

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    to behave in the same way as King Richard, and since he is acting this way, the

    Read More

  • How and Why Has King John Been Represented in Different Ways?

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    Richard being generous gave his younger brother rewards of several lands in England and he also made John the Count of Mortain in France. Whilst he was planning to go through a series of wars, Richard did not want his brother to enter England and he forced John to promise that he wouldn’t and John kept his word until he found out that Richard was intending to give the role of successor to the throne to their nephew. John felt that he should be king and he entered England, breaking his promise and tried to persuade the English people in order to gain the throne but the English woul...

    Read More

  • Comparing the Defective Rulers in Henry IV and Richard II

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Richard II, Bolingbroke is up against King Richard.  Richard is, to a considerable degree, the morally void opportunist: he does after all sieze Gaunt's lands at the moment of his death, taking the entire inheritance away from Gaunt's sons.  Richard lacks a sense of morality when it is to his advantage to ignore morality, and proclaims what is right when he thinks he can save his crown.  At Gaunt's death, when York attemps to point out that what Richard is doing is wrong, Richard says simply: 'Think what you will, we sieze into our hands/ His plate, his goods, his money and his lands'.  Yet later, as Richard is surrounded and on the verge of defeat: 'We are amazed, and thus long have we stood/ To watch the fearful bending of thy knee,/ Because we thought ourself thy lawful king;/ And if we be, how dare thy joints forget/ To pay their awful duty to our presence?'.  Richard uses morality as a tool, a necessary quality in a good ruler, yet he is not manipulative enough.  Bolingbroke not only ignores morality in his dealings, but keeps up the appearance of moral right and goodness.  Bolingbroke knows how to let others take the fall...

    Read More

  • Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery that Poses a National and International Security Risk

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    Raymond, Janice G. “The Ongoing Tragedy of International Slavery and Human Trafficking: An Overview.” Serial No. 108–137. 29 October 2003.

    Read More

  • Not For Sale: The Sexual Exploitation of America’s Children

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hughes PhD, Donna M., Fact Sheets and Research Roports on Trafficking, Slavery and Sexual Exploitation, http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/pubtrfrep.htm Women’s Studies Program, University of Rhode Island, March 21, 2014

    Read More

  • A Hero, a King, and a Daemon

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gifted with the darkest attributes intertwined in his imperfect characteristics, Shakespeare’s Richard III displays his anti-hero traits afflicted with thorns of villains: “Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous / By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams” (I.i.32-33). Richard possesses the idealism and ambition of a heroic figure that is destined to great achievements and power; however, as one who believes that “the end justifies the means”, Richard rejects moral value and tradition as he is willing to do anything to accomplish his goal to the crown. The society, even his family and closest friends, repudiate him as a deformed outcast. Nevertheless, he cheers for himself as the champion and irredeemable villain by turning entirely to revenge of taking self-served power. By distinguishing virtue ethics to take revenge on the human society that alienates him and centering his life on self-advancement towards kingship, Richard is the literary archetype of an anti-hero.

    Read More

  • Providentialism In King Richard III

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    The undeniable pursuit for power is Richard’s flaw as a Vice character. This aspect is demonstrated in Shakespeare’s play King Richard III through the actions Richard portrays in an attempt to take the throne, allowing the audience to perceive this as an abhorrent transgression against the divine order. The deformity of Richards arm and back also symbolically imply a sense of villainy through Shakespeare’s context. In one of Richard’s soliloquies, he states how ‘thus like the formal Vice Iniquity/ I moralize two meanings in one word’. Through the use of immoral jargons, Shakespeare emphasises Richard’s tenacity to attain a sense of power. However, Richard’s personal struggle with power causes him to become paranoid and demanding, as demonstrated through the use of modality ‘I wish’ in ‘I wish the bastards dead’. This act thus becomes heavily discordant to the accepted great chain of being and conveys Richard’s consumption by power.

    Read More

  • Richard the Third as a Hero or a Villain

    2535 Words  | 6 Pages

    This contributes to a very villainous role. Richard begins his journey to the throne. He manipulates Lady Anne. into marrying him, even though she knows that he murdered her first. husband.

    Read More

  • The Horrors of Human Trafficking

    1657 Words  | 4 Pages

    Human Trafficking began long ago with the European slave trade in Africa. Around the 1400s, human trafficking was known as slavery. Africa was the central place from which people were taken. After noticing Europe’s trades, America became involved and participated in this trade as they began to colonize. Although Europe and America were known for the trading of slaves, many other countries were involved. As the system grew, it became more intricate. Many forms of human trafficking were introduced. In the 17th century, the term “white slavery” was introduced to America. They were American servants known as “indentured servants.” As society became more corrupt, they perverted the meaning into “forcing or deceiving a white woman or girl into prostitution.” As this form of trafficking became popular, it very qui...

    Read More

  • Comparison of King Richard III and Looking for Richard

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shakespeare constructs King Richard III to perform his contextual agenda, or to perpetrate political propaganda in the light of a historical power struggle, mirroring the political concerns of his era through his adaptation and selection of source material. Shakespeare’s influences include Thomas More’s The History of King Richard the Third, both constructing a certain historical perspective of the play. The negative perspective of Richard III’s character is a perpetuation of established Tudor history, where Vergil constructed a history intermixed with Tudor history, and More’s connection to John Morton affected the villainous image of the tyrannous king. This negative image is accentuated through the antithesis of Richards treachery in juxtaposition of Richmond’s devotion, exemplified in the parallelism of ‘God and Saint George! Richmond and victory.’ The need to legitimize Elizabeth’s reign influenced Shakespeare’s portra...

    Read More

  • Sex trafficking

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sex trafficking is defined as "Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."(http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html) In my essay on sex trafficking i will be discussing three levels of sex trafficking that do not even begin to cover the surface of the problem. What are the causes of human trafficking? And what effects it has on the victims? Families? Society as a whole? These are questions that plague one’s mind and here i will help answer some questions one may have on sex trafficking.

    Read More

  • Pessimism In Journey Of The Magi

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    T.S. Eliot’s Journey of the Magi is a poem about the Three Wise Men and their journey to the city of Bethlehem for the birth of Christ. However, their journey is not all smooth sailing due to the perils of traveling in the desert. The first stanza includes a recollection of moments within their journey that display instability. The snow-covered desert, lack of fire and shelter, expensive and dirty villages, as well as traveling all night cause the Magi to reconsider whether or not it is worth the peril. In the second stanza the speaker continues, talking about their entrance into Bethlehem from the three trees hanging in the sky to finally arriving in time for the birth. Finally, in the last stanza, the speaker refers to the experience as

    Read More

  • Trans-Exclusive Feminism Essay

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is particularly palpable in the phenomenon of gender roles. “Oversimplified conceptions pertaining to our behavior as females or males,” gender roles boil down our gender and anatomical performance into categories of “boy” or “girl” (Basow 3). Patriarchy then builds systemic inequality off this simplistic binary foundation, attaching “male” to spheres of power and “female” to spheres of powerlessness. Gender roles are one of many patriarchal infrastructures that thrive off a concrete definition of gender and/or sex, and so modern feminism has found power in dismantling both constructions.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Gender Feminism

    1491 Words  | 3 Pages

    The feminist movement has been faced with backlash arguing that including gendernonconformity in feminism will dilute the movement, cause a weaker front, and feminism is just plain a women’s movement. While the latter is not mainstream today because of third wave feminism and its frontier into intersectionality it can still be seen that with the need to cleanly define identities in order to identify intersectionalities, individuals that are in grey areas are being left

    Read More

  • Richard II Essay: The Characters of Bolingbroke and Richard II

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    This is a prime example of Richard using his authority by way of rulings and pronouncements rather than action, even to the point of disallowing an action. Bolingbroke, on the other hand, is quite ready to do battle no matter what the consequences. Moments before Richard puts a stop to the proceedings, Bolingbroke says, ". . . let no noble eye profane a tear / For me, if I be gorged with Mowbray's spear" (1.3.58-59). Here is a man who is resolved in his intent.

    Read More

More about Anointed King

Open Document