Richard Ii - Silence Is The Plot :: essays research papers

In this play of challenge and debate, could it be possibly suggested that King Richard had a part to play in the murder of his uncle the Duke of Gloucester? Could the reader possibly recess up this assumption having known nothing about the play? These are all factors that one must find by reading in surrounded by the lines, noticing and understanding the silence that is exchanged. For the silence is just as important as the speech.Why is it assumed that King Richard II has anything to do with the murder? Let us recap a scene from the play were Gaunt accuses Richard of being accountable for Gloucesters death. "Gaunt O, spare me not, my brother Edwards son, For that I was his father Edwards son, That blood already, like the pelican, Hast universal gravitational constant tappd out and drunkenly carousd. My brother Gloucester, plain well-meaning consciousness, Whom fair befall in heaven mongst happy souls, May be a president and witness good That thou respectst not spilling Edw ards blood." (II.i) That passage simply states You may be a king, but you could have respected my brother enough not to kill him. There is as well another quote were Mowbray indirectly suggests that the King is also at fault. "Mow O, let my sovereign turn away his face, And bid his ears a little turn be deaf, Till I have told this slander of his blood, How God and good men hate so foul a liar." (I.i) Yet with saying this signalize about the King, he also begs for his innocence. "Mine honor is my life, both grow in one, Take honor from me, and my life is done. Then, dear my liege, mine honor let me try In that I live, and for that I will die." (I.i) These passages indirectly state that King Richard II is at fault for the death of his uncle. But for the reader to picture this they must break down the play and search for those "hidden meanings".For the ordinary reader, who does not search, the text clearly states that the fight for innocence is distinctl y between Bullingbrook and Mowbray. such an example can be found in Act I "Bull That he Mowbray did plot the Duke of Gloucesters death,Suggest his soon-believing adversaries,And consequently, like a traitor coward,Sluicd his innocent soul through streams of blood." The rest of the dialogue converses back and forth between Bullingbrook and Mowbray, each fighting for their own innocence.