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Ep 353 Detailed Show Notes Helen Castor
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The play Richard II is considered an inflammatory play from Shakespeare’s lifetime, because it includes an abdication scene where Richard II gives up the crown. The issue of Elizabeth I not having an heir made this play a particularly spicy one for her reign, and was even used by both the Earl of Essex and the queen herself as a political statement during the Essex Rebellion. Anonymous portrait of Richard II completed in the 14th century. Now held at the Bridgeman Art Library at Westminster Abbey | Public Domain | Source Watch RIchard II on YouTUbe Watch Now History tells us, that whether or not it was popular, the abdication was real. "[Richard II] did abdicate, but as Shakespeare shows us, it was unwilling. It was an attempt to get Richard off the throne by any means possible. The central dilemma in ACT 3 scene 2..balm from an anointed..breath cannot depose deputy elected by the Lord....If Richard is anointed but they need to get rid of him because of the terrible crisis. How it is possible? The way they go about it is they depose him..." Looking into why this narrative, among so much royal drama to choose from, would consistently be the at the heart of riots and suspicion, Helen explains: The later years of the 1590s, written in 1595 topical anniversary by 1599 and 601, the essence of the threat is precisely that question—is it possible to depose San anointed sovereign...Richard had no children either, much younger than Elizabeth, and he was horrible, where Elizabeth was fabulous. But she was aging, the court was splintering, and there was a question of her succession, left unaddressed by Elizabeth. There were parallels. King Richard II, by unknown artist, late 16th century. | Public Domain| Original is at the National Portrait Gallery in London | Source Famously, Elizabeth I is said to have compared herself to Richard II, and that comparison fuels the use of the Richard II narrative in political statements. Helen confirms, however, that Elizabeth did, actually make this comparison herself: [Elizabeth] was looking through the archives and [a witness] recorded this incident and [Elizabeth I] actually did say “I am Richard II, no ye not that?” It so many ways there were no parallels, but she saw the parallels and difficulties and she had been caught in a complex catch 22, about the idea of having children, because if she needed to have children she needed to marry, which brings up a concern over her husband. Richard II was in so many ways a horrible King, not the least of which is his inability to juggle all the duties against his own personal desires. In 1349, the King leads an Army to Ireland, but rather than fighting France..."He wanted to make peace with France, married a French princess, and Shakespeare shows her to us as a grown woman, but she was actually 6 years old." The youth of his bride raised eyebrows as well as concerns,...
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