' I wasted time and now doth time waste me' (King Richard II - William Shakespeare)

Member Name: fragileshapes

Product:	King Richard II - William Shakespeare
Date:	25/04/01 (76 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: truly beautiful language

Disadvantages: a bit overlong

Richard II is a poignant tragedy by Shakespeare about the rise and fall of a King who never should have been. It becomes obvious in the beginning of the play that things are to take a turn for the worse as in all tragedies it follows the familiar rise, fall and moment of epiphany just before the tragic hero dies, bringing about harmony again. Sorry to spoil the story but really you do know what is going to happen.

When I fist read this play for my A – Level English course I found it very difficult to understand but once I started to understand the constant metaphors and imagery used by Shakespeare I appreciated the play to its full extent. The main images used in Richard II are ones relating to gardens and nature:
‘ Cut of the heads of too fast growing sprays, that look too lofty in our commonwealth,’ blood is also a common image used as is light/dark, fire/water and scales/buckets. It may sound complicated but once it becomes familiar it is simple to comprehend.

Not much action occurs in this play there are no fighting or real love sequences, although there are quite a few heated arguments and the language and imagery used in this play more than makes up for the lack of action. Exquisite speeches delivered by Richard himself, his best speech occurs just before his tragic death during his imprisonment in the Tower of London, here Richard realises his faults and according to many critics of this play Richard becomes a poet:
'My brain I'll prove the female to my soul, my soul the father, and these two beget a generation of still breeding thoughts, and these same thoughts people this little world, In humours like the people of this world;'
and other speeches from characters such as John of Gaunt and Bolingbroke make this play one of Shakespeare’s finest.

This isn’t my favourite Shakespeare play and it is not something really for bedtime reading but if you are up for a challenge and
you wish to experience some beautiful language then give it a go, I’m sure you wont be disappointed by any means.

Summary: