Richard II: forget, forgive; I taste grief, need friends; mount, mount my soul

sweetsilentsessions.blogspot.com
glennlouisfeole@gmail.com

Other blogs: readingthedictionaryztoa.blogspot.com (essays on reading the dictionary) artbyglennfeole.blogspot.com

Richard II

     Amid the struggle for power, the usurpation and greed of these battles for the throne, suddenly, almost imperceptibly, emerge the wise words of gentle John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster.  A light in the dark. 

     I was filled with sadness when they announced his death in Act II, the death that  King Richard yearned for.  It reminded me of the death of a gentle, beloved uncle, no longer able to murmur words of encouragement: “Look at what thy soul holds dear, imagine it”; his reference to the sun as “the eye of heaven” and to England as “this precious stone set in the silver sea”; and the equanimity of “The setting sun, and music at the close, As the last taste of sweets is sweetest last.”  Only a poet or philosopher could see things in this light.

    And yet, Gaunt’s nemesis, King Richard, changes and evolves as he succumbs to rebellion and betrayal...and grief.  He says “Forget, forgive” and admits that he ‘tastes grief, needs friends.’  He laments his waste of time and his discourses on nearing death, betrayal, the passage of time have endeared him to my heart.  Nothing is black and white with Shakespeare as he mines the vast depths of the human heart. 

Quotes:  

“Deep malice makes to deep incision;

Forget, forgive, conclude and be agreed.”  Richard.  1.1. 155, 156

“in rage, deaf as the sea, hasty of fire.”  Richard. 1.1.19

 

“I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,

Too far in years to be a pupil now;”  Mowbray. 1.3.170, 171

“Thou canst help time to furrow me with age.”  Gaunt. 1.3.228

“Grief makes one hour ten.”  Bolingbroke.  1.3.259

“the eye of heaven (the sun)”  Gaunt.  1.3.274

“Look at what thy soul holds dear, imagine it.”  Gaunt.  1.3.285

“For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite

The man that mocks at it and sets it light.”  Gaunt. 1.3.291, 292

 

“Now put it, God, in the physician’s mind

To help him to his grave immediately.”  Richard, about John of Gaunt. 1.4.59, 60

“Where words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain,

For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.”  Guant. 2.1.7, 8

“The setting sun, and music at the close,

As the last taste of sweets is sweetest last.”  Gaunt.  2.1.12, 13

 

“This precious stone set in the silver sea” Gaunt, referring to England. 2.1.46

 

“woe to woe, sorrow to sorrow” (similar to Sonnet 30) Queen. 2.2.66

 

“Comfort’s in heaven, and we are on the earth,

Where nothing lives but crosses, cares, and grief.”  York. 2.2. 78,79

“And yet your fair discourse hath been as sugar,

Making the hard way sweet and delectable.”  Northumberland.  2.3.6,7

“And hope to joy is little less in joy

Than hope enjoyed.”  Northumberland.  2.3. 15,16

“hearts harder than steal.”  Scroop  3.2.111

“Three Judases, each on thrice worse than Judas!”  Richard.  3.2.132

 

“I live with bread like you, feel want,

Taste grief, need friends” Richard.  3.2.175-176

 

“let’s fight with gentle words.”  Aumerle.  3.3.130

“I thought you had been willing to resign.” Bolingbroke.

“My crown I am, but still my griefs are mine:

You may my glories and my state depose,

But not my griefs; still am I King of those.”  Richard.  4.1.189-192

“wash him fresh again with true-love tears.”  Queen about Richard, who has been sent to the Tower.  5.1.10

“the violets now that strew the green lap of the new-come spring.”  Duchess.  5.2.46-47

 

“Thus play I in one person many people,”  Richard. 5.5.31 

 

“How sour sweet music is When time is broke.”  Richard. 5.5.42-43

 

“I wasted time, and now doth Time waste me.” Richard.  5.5.48

 

“pride must have a fall”  Richard. 5.5.88-89

 

“Mount, mount, my soul; thy seat is up on high,

Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward here to die.”  Richard’s last words. 5.5.111-112

 

Pomp references: pages 59, 81, 85, 90

     3.2.163; 4.1.210; 4.1.249 (pompous); 5.1.78

Moon references:

“The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth”  Captain.  2.4. 10   

Sun references:

“As doth the blushing discontented sun

From out the fiery portal of the East.”  Bolingbroke.  3.3.62-64

“Phaeton wanting the manage of unruly jades.”  Richard.  3.3.177-178 (reference to Ovid’s Metamorphasis)

“the eye of heaven (the sun)”  Gaunt.  1.3.274

 

Words juxtaposed:

“London London’s”:  “go to meet at London London’s king in woe”  Queen. 3.4.96-97

“rest rest”:  “This fest’red joint cut off, the rest rest sound.”  York. 5.3.84

“pardon pardon”:  “Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy?”  Duchess.  5.3.119

“sour sweet”  see quote above

Using the word “time” five times: 5.5.46

Vocabulary:

Unpossible

Trinovantum: the old name for London, “New Troy” (5.1.11)