Shakespeare Sunday: Richard II and Henry VI Part 3

Welcome to 'Shakespeare Sunday', where I take an extract from one of the plays, and write my thoughts.

'Let us sit upon the ground...' Richard II, Act 3, Scene 2
'Here on this molehill will I sit me down...' Henry VI Part 3, Act 2, Scene 5

Kings Brought Low: Comparing Richard and Henry 

For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings;
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;
Some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd;
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable, and humour'd thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!
Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence: throw away respect,
Tradition, form and ceremonious duty,
For you have but mistook me all this while:
I live with bread like you, feel want,
Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,
How can you say to me, I am a king?

For this feature, I'd like to compare the extract above, spoken by King Richard in Act 3, Scene 2 of Richard II, to the (abridged) extract below, spoken by King Henry in Act 2, Scene 5 of Henry VI Part 3:

Here on this molehill will I sit me down.
[...]
O God! methinks it were a happy life,
To be no better than a homely swain;
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
[...]
So many hours must I tend my flock;
So many hours must I take my rest;
So many hours must I contemplate;
So many hours must I sport myself;
So many days my ewes have been with young;
So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean:
So many years ere I shall shear the fleece:
So minutes, hours, days, months, and years,
Pass'd over to the end they were created,
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
Ah, what a life were this! how sweet! how lovely!
[...]
And to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds,
His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle.
His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade,
All which secure and sweetly he enjoys,
Is far beyond a prince's delicates,
His viands sparkling in a golden cup,
His body couched in a curious bed,
When care, mistrust, and treason waits on him.

Richard II is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays: the language is beautifully wrought, the dramatic speeches splendidly rendered, and though the story begins with a tyrannical monarch, it ends pitifully, with a young man brought tragically low. I am always particularly drawn to Ben Whishaw's performance in the BBC's The Hollow Crown series, which I thought was pitch-perfect; Charles Edwards in the 2015 Shakespeare's Globe production and David Tennant in the 2013 RSC production are also fantastic.

I recently watched the Shakespeare's Globe 2013 productions of the Henry VI plays, with Graham Butler in the title role, and was struck by just how similar Henry is to Richard. One scene in particular (from Act 2, quoted above) brought Richard II to mind: here, Henry can only sit by while the houses of Lancaster and York vie for dominance, and meditate on what it is like to be king. Richard undertakes a similar idle meditation when he learns that Bolingbroke's forces are rallying against him, and all of his own allies have fled.

For both monarchs, it is the beginning of the end of their reigns. Both were crowned at an exceeding young age (Richard at 10 years old, Henry at 9 months), and as a result, neither had learnt who they were as men before they were forced into the position of king. Both were the only (surviving) sons and heirs of their respective fathers, and so were closely guarded and sheltered throughout their early years. This perhaps accounts for Richard's reckless naivety, Henry's childish reluctance, and the weakness both of them showed when their claims to the throne were in peril.  

When bad news is brought, the first reaction of both monarchs is to sit down. In terms of staging the play, the act of such a mighty character (who hitherto has always walked or been carried on stage) sitting on the ground is a clear indicator of their coming decline - their fortunes have fallen, their hopes are low, and their chances of success are lower. The king is shown to be just a man, like any other - and like any other man, he can be overthrown, even killed. 

It also makes sense in terms of the characters: for a king, to sit upon the ground is a means to be close to one's kingdom, in the most physical sense of the word. To touch the earth provides stability, even comfort - to be in contact with the soil of one's own kingdom, to account for at least one square metre of it, gives a sense of control during a time when other situations are becoming uncontrollable. It may also provide stability and comfort for the other half of the king's person - the mortal man. To connect with the ground you live upon, to the earth which has fed and watered you - to feel alive at least, even if all else is uncertain.

This is indeed the effect it has on Henry. Rather than mourning the life of 'state' and 'pomp' that is slipping away from him, as Richard does, Henry reimagines 'a happy life' for himself in which he is a mere shepherd, filling his time with simple activities such as the tending his sheep, eating 'homely curds', and sleeping under a tree. He lists contemplation amongst these activities - having time to idly think and dream is a luxury that kings cannot afford, except fretfully, in times of peril such as now. For Henry, it would be enough to live such a simple life; as it stands, just to dream about it suffices. 

Sitting on the ground has a very different effect on Richard. Being closer with the earth (in which he will one day lie) inspires thoughts of death, rather than life - 'let us...tell sad stories of the death of kings'. It reminds him of his mortal self, in that he needs to eat and sleep, but these notions are overshadowed by fears of death, as he ponders kings 'poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed'. In this moment, Richard can think of nothing but the life he is losing, and of the death that he believes awaits him. 

Henry knows that even a shepherd's life would end in death, but it is a 'quiet grave', at the end of a long life, and one he would go to happily - as opposed to the perilous and premature grave he fears for himself. His 'quiet grave' line could be a precursor of the 'little, little grave, an obscure grave' speech in Act 3, Scene 3 of Richard II - here, Richard does imagine a humbler life for himself as a hermit. Yet for Richard, such a life would be a poor replacement for his life as a king, with the 'almsman's gown' and 'dish of wood' being a poor consolation for the 'gay apparel' and 'figured goblets' he enjoys now. Henry also considers this loss of material wealth as he weighs a 'leather bottle' against a 'golden cup', but rather than a consolation, he sees the former as being 'far beyond' the latter. 

This great internal conflict is one Richard wrangles with over the later half of the play, yet Henry contemplates and resolves it in one monologue. Is Henry simply a more decisive king, more content in his fantasies than Richard, or is this a sign of a writer improving in skill? From the writing of Henry VI to Richard II, Shakespeare's ideas on kingship have developed, and his craft has improved. He threads Richard's thoughts throughout several scenes to show a gradual fall from grace, rather than cramming them into one, all-too-concise monologue. What Shakespeare practices in Henry VI Part 3, he perfects in Richard II, which perhaps accounts for the latter's beauty, and the former's unfortunate obscurity.

As I like to end on a video, here is David Tennant performing the extract from Richard II, in the RSC production mentioned above: 

Photo credits:

Mark Rylance as Richard II, by John Tramper, found here.

Graham Butler as Henry VI, screenshot of the Shakespeare's Globe production, found here.
Henry VI at Towton, oil on board by William Dyce (late 1850s), found here.
Ben Whishaw as Richard II, screenshot of the BBC's The Hollow Crown, found here.