Richard II Identity Quotes

Here, old John of Gaunt expresses his grief at his son's banishment from England. What's interesting about this passage is that Gaunt's wordplay experiments with the very problem of identity. He puns on his name, Gaunt, which means skinny and sickly looking, but by the end of the quote, everyone who "abstains from meat" (everyone who fasts) is included. Gaunt is making an important point: the name "Gaunt" can refer to many people (despite the king's efforts to make sure there will be no more "Gaunts" by banishing Gaunt's heir, Henry. Using this logic, it also becomes clear that that the name "king" can also refer to more than just one man, right?

When Henry Bolingbroke returns to England to claim his birthright, he assumes a powerful position. He makes it clear that before he'll accept any message from the king's representative, he must first be acknowledged and officially recognized as "Lancaster," Gaunt's rightful heir. (Remember, John of Gaunt was the Duke of Lancaster, and when he died that land was supposed to be passed down to his son. Richard stepped in and basically stole it.) Since this is exactly what Richard was trying to deprive Henry of, it's a bold move. Keep reading...

When York confronts Henry Bolingbroke for storming into England after he's been banished, Henry explains his rationale – he's returned with an army because King Richard has stolen his birthright by taking the land (Lancaster) that should have gone to Henry when his father died. The law says that when a man dies, all his wealth, titles, and land should be passed down to his eldest son. This applies to noblemen and kings. As Henry points out, the same system that allowed Richard to inherit the title "King of England" from his father is supposed to allow him, Henry, to inherit the title "Duke of Lancaster" from his dad. So if Richard denies Henry his title, Henry figures he's got a right to take away the king's.

The moment Richard realizes just how much danger he's really in, he tries to rally by remembering that he's in a position of power. He's king, after all – a powerful name. Of course, he's right in one sense: the king's name is twenty thousand names, in the sense that the office of the king commands the loyalty of his twenty thousand or so subjects. What Richard fails to realize, though, is that he might not in any real sense be king anymore, because Henry Bolingbroke is about two seconds from forcing him to give up the crown.

This is kind of a weird moment, don't you think? Here Richard asks his own name to take up arms on his behalf. In other words, he thinks that language – both the title of king and his orders as king – becomes almost magic because he's king. There's something spell-like about this moment when Richard asks his own identity to defend him.

When Henry Bolingbroke shows up with an army and backs Richard into a corner at Flint Castle, Richard knows he's not going to be king of England much longer. Here, Richard's sarcastic address to Henry does a lot of work. By refusing to call him "Lancaster," the title he should have inherited when Gaunt died, Richard is indirectly defending his seizure of Gaunt's property. Also, because "Bolingbroke" is a title that specifically refers to a duke, by calling him "King Bolingbroke" Richard is trying to show how ridiculous it is for Henry Bolingbroke to even try to assume an identity that can't, by definition, be rightfully his.

On the verge of giving his crown to Henry Bolingbroke, Richard is exploring the relationship between his identity and his title. Here he tells Henry that even if he seizes power, Henry can't seize or "depose" those parts of Richard that are his regardless of whether or not he is king. Those parts add up, in the end, to grief. Even if his "glories" and his "state" cease to belong to him once Henry becomes king, Richard will still own, and be "king" of, his sadness.

Here we see just how important the relationship between identity and names or titles is for Richard. When Northumberland calls him "My lord," Richard lashes out – not only because of the hypocrisy (since Northumberland has rebelled against him) but also because he no longer has a clear place in a society structured around hierarchy. In the absence of a title, he's groping for an identity. Disoriented now that he's no longer king, Richard is searching not only for a name but for a sense of self.

This moment occurs after Richard has lost the crown to Henry Bolingbroke. Since Richard locates so much of himself in his role as king, he wonders (perhaps understandably) how the symbolic transformation has manifested itself physically. In other words, he wonders what he looks like now. Here he demands a mirror to inspect himself and see the physical evidence of the losses he's suffered. He's shocked to find his appearance unchanged, because he feels like he's been transformed.

Here the former Duke of Aumerle's parents talk about what they should call their son now that he's been stripped of his dukedom for being buddy-buddy with the former king, Richard. Even though he's no longer the Duke of Aumerle, he's still the Earl of Rutland, so his dad says they should call him that from now on. But the moment York switches his allegiance to Henry Bolingbroke, his son gets renamed. All this shuffling of identities and names in the household ends pretty badly. It can also be pretty confusing and exasperating for us readers, don't you think?