"Richard II" - How well do you know the action? Quiz

Answer: Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford

It is Henry Bolingbroke (some editions it is spelled "Bullingbrook") who initiates the opening action in the play. However, when the accusations begin you realise that there are a series of disputes, some involving Richard himself, that stretch back into the past.

Answer: all of these charges

The plotting of the Duke of Gloucester's death is probably the most serious accusation - Gloucester was the King's uncle. The misusing of the money is a very specific charge, but how can he possibly know that Mowbray was behind every single plot in England for 18 years?

Answer: at Coventry upon St. Lambert's day

Settling a dispute by trial by single combat is an idea that no longer finds much favour. "Might is right" is not a concept that appeals to many people. Quite often, however, you will see this presented as normal in films that purport to represent medieval life. There are several real recorded cases.

Answer: branches of one tree and vials (containers) of sacred blood

Both the blood image and the branches image are very important. For the Duchess, with the murder of her husband, the blood has been spilled and one of the branches hacked off. Gradually, each of the sons of Edward III is to disappear from the scene. After the death of Gloucester, only Gaunt (Lancaster) and Edmund Langley (York) remain.

Answer: the rest of his life

Richard tells Mowbray never to return. However, he only banishes Bolingbroke for 10 years and then reduces the sentence to six years. Scholars have argued endlessly about his reasons for the different sentences. Remember that this is history as well as being Shakespeare's play.

Answer: He has seen how upset Gaunt (Bolingbroke's father) has become

It is an apparent sign of sympathy with his old uncle. Not every student of the play has accepted this as his real reason for the difference in sentences but this is what he says:
"thy sad aspect
Hath from the number of his banish'd years...Pluck'd four away."

Answer: Bushy, Bagot, Green, Aumerle

Aumerle is the King's cousin and therefore the most important of these men. The others are little more than servants. It is interesting to trace the fate of the four men as the play unfolds. There is a big contrast between this private scene and the big public display at Coventry for the interrupted trial by combat.

Answer: He hopes God will hint to the physicians that they should speed his end

Richard says that he wants his uncle to die quickly, not to spare him any pain but so that he can use his money to finance his wars in Ireland. Gaunt's death would be very convenient for him. He sets off to see him hoping that he will arrive too late.

Answer: York

The Duke of York is the one that tells Richard to his face that what he is doing is both wrong and dangerous. He points out that he is breaking the natural chain of inheritance from father to son, thus risking his own throne for that which he inherited via his father from his grandfather, Edward III. Yorks sees it as both wicked and foolish.

Answer: York

York regards himself as too old to be the Regent. The Earl of Wiltshire is in charge of Richard's controversial means of raising taxes. Northumberland is soon to become a rebel. Choosing York often seems to be a strange decision, as he has just made a public protest about the decision to seize Bolingbroke's inheritance.

Answer: Northumberland's son

Henry Percy (nicknamed Hotspur) is Northumberland's son and a rebel against King Richard. Shakespeare develops his story more fully in "Henry IV Part I", where he becomes a rebel against Henry IV (Bolingbroke in "Richard II"). The more knowledgeable of Shakespeare's audience would recognise the fiery young man.

Answer: Wales

Salisbury learns this news of the Welshmen's desertion in a short scene with a Welsh captain. Both men link this event with various ominous signs of Richard's doom. Salisbury compares Richard to a shooting star that is now falling to earth.

Answer: Judas

He calls them "Judases". It is himself that Richard sees as a Christ- like figure. This is an image that is repeated later on. Of the men mentioned, Bagot probably outlives Richard whilst the others have been killed. He has not been betrayed in the way he thinks.

Answer: Flint Castle

An earlier scene takes place near Barkloughly Castle (Harlech), but it is at Flint Castle that Richard finally meets up with the man whom he had banished.

Answer: Aumerle

It is very clear that there are lots of comparisons that can be made between the opening scene of the play and the opening scene of Act 4. Both Richard and then Bolingbroke (not yet king) have difficult groups of men to rule over. The old issue of who killed the Duke of Gloucester has come back again.

Answer: his crown

Richard talks of how he is down like a bucket at the bottom of a well because he is full of tears. There are constant signs of his poetic imagination in the comparisons he makes about himself and about Bolingbroke.

Answer: a looking-glass or mirror

After studying himself in the looking-glass he "Dashes the glass against the ground". He compares the brittleness of the glass with the brittleness of his former glory. It is often seen as a passionate, dramatic gesture, considered by many scholars to be typically self-pitying.

Answer: Northumberland

Richard's predictions are accurate. In "Henry IV Part 1", Northumberland does indeed rebel against the man whom he helped to become king. Richard compares Northumberland to a ladder that Bolingbroke has used to climb to the throne.

Answer: the details of a plot to kill King Henry at Oxford

Having pledged his loyalty to the new king, Henry, York discovers treason in his own house. The Duchess knows that her son will be executed for this plot. Strangely, Shakespeare makes her suggest that Aumerle is their only son; it is one of his famous historical mistakes.

Answer: He eventually agrees to spare Aumerle's life

Aumerle is King Henry's cousin. (He is also Richard's cousin.) Having been pardoned, Aumerle becomes a faithful servant of Henry and Henry's son, Henry V. In fact, he is one of the few English noblemen killed at the battle of Agincourt in 1415.

Answer: Bolingbroke (King Henry IV)

Richard resents both Bolingbroke and the horse. It is another symbol of how the power he had known has now passed to the new king.

Answer: by poison

Richard commands the Keeper to taste his food as he usually does. On this occasion the Keeper says that Exton has issued contrary orders. The actual details of Richard's death are uncertain, but Shakespeare portrays him as putting up a fight and killing two men before he falls.

Answer: He treats him with respect and lets him live, but retired from public life

Henry sees the Bishop of Carlisle as a man who has acted on principle even though he has opposed him all the time. It was Carlisle who made the dire predictions about what would happen to England if Henry overturned the God-appointed king, Richard. Carlisle's predictions are proved correct when the so-called "War of the Roses" breaks out.

Answer: He will make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land

In fact, "Henry IV Part 1" opens with King Henry talking about his delayed trip to the Holy Land. There are too many troubles at home for him to lead such a pilgrimage. Ironically, the real Henry IV died in the "Jerusalem" chamber in London.

Answer: Bushy , Duchess of Gloucester, Richard

Richard has died without either of his wives producing children. He has been succeeded by his cousin, who is descended via John of Gaunt in the Lancastrian line from Edward III. However, there are other claimants who can trace their descent back to Edward III, including one whose line was descended from an older brother of Gaunt.