Themes of Richard II

• Tragic hero
• nobility
• Tension between rebellion and sacred duty
• order and hierarchy
• leadership
• qualities of kingship
• dignity
• religion

Richard II and Elizabeth I

Links between Shakespeare's plays and the contemporary monarch:

• Popular revolt
• Misled by favourite advisors
• Succession - her childlessness
• Richard utterly obsessed with performance of own life, eloquent but incapable ruler compared to efficient but chilly successor
• Elizabeth I said "I am Richard II, know ye not that?" it had been "played forty times in open streets and houses"
• leaders of the Essex rebellion commissioned the Chamberlain's Men to perform it before their plot
• scene depicting king's abdication was cut by censors
• Richard's political mismanagement and unpopularity
• 'grievous taxes'
• England in danger
• King the 'landlord' not the ruler
• funding irish wars with Gaunt money - Elizabeth's wars in Ireland