Richard the Deposed Drama King?

            Act four is only comprised of one scene, and even though a few different things happen within this scene it is safe to say the most significant event is Richard’s resignation as king, and his crowning of Bolingbroke to rule in his place.  When Richard enters the scene he expresses a melancholy demeanor as he speaks of how short a time he has had to adapt to his transition from king to subject, stating “I hardly yet have learned / To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my knee” (4.1.155-56).  He insists that he should be given more time to deal with the sorrow he feels from falling from his position of absolute authority to a humbled state of submission.  When he questions why he has been brought before Bolingbroke York reminds him that it is his duty to perform the ceremony of crowning a new king.  Richard holds the crown in his hands and speaks to Bolingbroke with words of self-pity, describing how the crown is like a deep well.  As Bolingbroke’s bucket becomes “the emptier ever dancing in the air,” Richard’s bucket becomes “down, unseen, and full of tears” (4.1.176-77).  When Bolingbroke questions his willingness to resign Richard says that he is giving up his crown, but not his grief at losing it.  This back and forth exchange between Richard and Bolingbroke seems like an attempt to delay the inevitable, but finally Richard hands over the crown and his sceptre.  When Richard asks what more there is to do, Northumberland states that he must confess to the accusations and crimes he and his followers committed during his kingship.  Richard argues that he should not have to give a public reading of his acts of wrongdoing as it would shame him, and he is already feeling miserable about being deposed.  Northumberland insists upon reading them, to which the Richard replies “Mine eyes are full of tears; I cannot see,” (4.1.234).  Richard seems to play out his grief in an overly dramatic way that doesn’t seem to suit the proper demeanor of a king.  Richard becomes even more melodramatic as he comments on Northumberland referring to him as “lord” and exclaims that he is no lord of his, but furthermore that he is “no man’s lord” (4.1.245).  He no longer has a name or a title. 

            Richard’s request to have a mirror brought to him only emphasizes his over dramatic reaction to his resignation.  He looks at his image reflected in the glass and rambles on about how he cannot believe he had so quickly lost his royal authority and king status.  He looks at his face and recalls his glory days:

                        Was this face the face

                        That every day under his household roof

                        Did keep ten thousand men? Was this the face

                        That like the sun did make beholders wink?

                        Is this the face which faced so many follies,

                        That was at last outfaced by Bolingbroke?

                        A brittle glory shineth in this face,

                        As brittle as the glory is the face.  (4.1.271-78)

Richard then shatters the glass, exclaiming how his deep sorrow destroyed his face.  Bolingbroke suggests that the darkness of his sorrow, not the sorrow itself, is behind the destruction of the resigned king’s face. 

            This entire moment within the scene may have been intended to make me feel compassion toward Richard, but in actuality it made me dislike him more.  His behavior was very unbecoming of someone who had once been a king, and yet can we even truly say he ever possessed the qualities of an honorable king?  His self-pity and overdramatic reaction to his grief over his resignation in this part of the scene make clear to us just how weak Richard was from the very beginning.  The truth is that the loss of power he laments for he never truly possessed.  The only type of king Richard can rightfully be called is a Drama King.