Richard II Gender Quotes

When the Duchess of Gloucester begs John of Gaunt to avenge the death of Gaunt's brother and her husband (Thomas of Woodstock, the Duke of Gloucester), Gaunt refuses because he believes his allegiance to the king is more important than his loyalty to his family. This is something we see over and over again in the play: the female characters put family ties above all else. For the most part, the male characters (like Gaunt and York) tend to put political alliances first.

When Mowbray prepares to duke it out with Henry Bolingbroke, he declares that physical combat is the manly way (and the only way) they can settle their differences. In the process of explaining his position, Mowbray manages to insult women by suggesting that when they "war" with one another, it's usually about something petty (not political), and their "bitter" tongues do all the fighting. Okay, so Mowbray's a jerk. But does this mean the play as a whole has no regard for women's voices? You could argue either way. On the one hand, nobody pays any attention to the queen when she begs to stay with her husband after Richard is sent to Pomfret Castle (5.1.4). On the other hand, when the Duchess of York shows up at King Henry's castle to beg for her son's life, she manages to convince Henry that her son should live, but only after Henry calls her a "shrill-voiced suppliant" (5.5.11).

When the queen says she feels a sense of grief at her husband's departure for Ireland, Bushy tries to undermine her by suggesting that she doesn't understand her own feelings.

When Richard comes back from Ireland, he gets all weepy about setting foot back on British soil. What's interesting about this passage is the way Richard compares himself to a mother who has just been reunited with her child. What's up with that? Seriously. Let us know when you work it out.

This is where the queen finds out that her husband has lost the throne. She's devastated, of course, but she's also outraged that she's the last one to know. (A few lines earlier, she overheard the news from her gardener, of all people.) What this passage tells us is that the queen (like a lot of women in the play) is totally out of the loop when it comes to political affairs.

When the Duchess of York learns that her husband plans to report their son for plotting against the king, she argues that family bonds are far more important than loyalty to the king. But York doesn't see it that way. Keep reading...

Although his wife believes that family bonds are more important than allegiance to the king, York thinks it's his duty to report his son's treasonous plot. Even if Aumerle is his son, he's going to turn him in anyway. It seems York hasn't learned anything from John of Gaunt's mistake....

Here the Duchess of York continues to beg her husband not to turn in their son for treason. What's interesting about this passage is the way the Duchess first suggests that mothers have stronger bonds with their children than fathers do, because mothers give birth ("groan" for their children). But then she seems to realize that this point isn't going to change her husband's mind, because she quickly switches tactics and urges York to think of the father-son bond he shares with Aumerle. The Duchess insists that York can't turn in his son because he's flesh and blood. In fact, she adds, Aumerle is more like his dad than his mother. But this doesn't work. In fact, York distances himself from Aumerle and plays up the connection between his son and his wife. When York orders the Duchess away and calls her an "unruly woman," he suggests that she is both a disobedient wife and an "unruly" subject, just like her son.

Wow. The Duchess of York would sacrifice her life to save her son Aumerle from being executed. Here she urges her son to get to the king before his father can get there first and accuse him of treason. She promises she'll follow close behind (even though she's too old to go riding off after him on a horse) and that she'll throw herself onto the ground and beg the king for mercy.

This is where York and his wife argue in front of King Henry about whether or not Henry should pardon their son, who plotted against the new king. York is particularly nasty in this passage. When he asks, "Shall thy old dugs [breasts] once more a traitor rear?" he's basically saying it's his wife's fault their son is a traitor. (In Shakespeare's day, people thought mothers could pass on traits to their children through breast milk.) In other words, York says his wife somehow passed on some rebellious traits when she breastfed their kid. Gee, we wonder how they celebrate Mother's Day in the York household.

Things keep getting worse for the queen. When she learns that Richard is being sent away to Pomfret Castle, she begs Northumberland to let him go to France with her. That, of course, is impossible: Richard has just been dethroned, and if he's allowed to live with his queen in exile, they could have a child together, who could grow up to make a legal claim to the throne. (Remember, the English crown is supposed to pass from father to son.) But the queen doesn't get it, and Northumberland's response reminds us that she really is clueless about matters of state.