Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
Hang on to your metaphorical hats! We're almost there. When we last left our beleaguered cast of characters, Henry of Bolingbroke had just established himself as king, and has sent the deposed Richard off to Pomfret Castle. But things haven't been all that easy for Henry...
Piers of Exton is a fictional creation of Shakespeare's. Shakespeare also seems to have ripped off the "knight overhearing frustrated king's hyperbolic exhortation to kill someone and then taking it literally" gag from Henry II's famous "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" remark, which resulted in the horrible and totally unintended* murder of Thomas Becket.
*may or may not have been intended
So, this is what happens when you try to turn a deeply introspective and philosophical soliloquy into a one-page stick-figure comic strip. I fear most of Richard's profound, self-actualizing discoveries were lost in the translation. On the plus side, he does now have sock puppets.
And that, tragically, is the end of Richard. It is not, however, quite the end of the play. Check back tomorrow for the final scene and the obligatory "Death and Marriages" tally. Richard II is very short on marriages.
Richard II
Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10