Language in Richard II
Julia Snider
Richard II is known for containing some of the most lyrical passages Shakespeare has ever written, and these lines are placed in the mouth of King Richard. Though he speaks in blank verse as everyone else in the play does, he also speaks often in heroic couplet form, rhyming lines of iambic pentameter traditionally utilized in epic and narrative poetry. His language is very elaborate and flowery, reflecting his character.
Richard II is actually one of the few plays written by Shakespeare that does not contain lines written in ordinary prose. Shakespeare commonly allowed nobles to speak in iambic pentameter, and the lower classes to speak in prose, but almost every line in this play is written in blank verse (iambic pentameter with no rhyme scheme). This helps to emphasize that the play focuses more on personal relations than on action or battle, as Henry IV and Henry V do. You will notice that in those plays, there are many lines written in prose because they feature more common characters.
In regard to soliloquies, you may notice that in the play Richard has a lot of them. While it’s ordinary for Shakespeare's protagonists to speak a lot about themselves, nearly every scene that the king appears in features a lengthy soliloquy. These speeches serve to emphasize the perception of Richard as a man of thought and reflection, not one of action.
Richard II is actually one of the few plays written by Shakespeare that does not contain lines written in ordinary prose. Shakespeare commonly allowed nobles to speak in iambic pentameter, and the lower classes to speak in prose, but almost every line in this play is written in blank verse (iambic pentameter with no rhyme scheme). This helps to emphasize that the play focuses more on personal relations than on action or battle, as Henry IV and Henry V do. You will notice that in those plays, there are many lines written in prose because they feature more common characters.
In regard to soliloquies, you may notice that in the play Richard has a lot of them. While it’s ordinary for Shakespeare's protagonists to speak a lot about themselves, nearly every scene that the king appears in features a lengthy soliloquy. These speeches serve to emphasize the perception of Richard as a man of thought and reflection, not one of action.
Richard’s Most Lyrical Passages Compiled by Zach Davis and Julia Snider
""As a long-parted mother with her child |
""Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; |
""For you have but mistook me all this while: |
""He is come to open |
""On this side my hand, and on that side yours. |
""We'll make foul weather with despised tears; |
""A brittle glory shineth in this face: |
""Alack the heavy day, |
""I wasted time, and now doth time waste me"" |
""Love to Richard |
""Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs
Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls,
And for they cannot, die in their own pride.
Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
That they are not the first of fortune's slaves,
Nor shall they be the last; like silly beggars
Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame,
That many have and others must sit there;
And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortunes on the back
Of such as have before endured the like.""
(V.v.18-30)