Thanks, Jetsam. I hope you don't mind that I moved this conversation to this newly created thread.jetsam wrote:It's interesting to compare the openings of Richard II and Henry IV Pt I. In both scenes we're looking at kings who are about to face deadly challenges, but who for the moment are unaware of what lies ahead.
I read the first scene this morning and was endlessly confused. It took me awhile to figure out that Thomas Mowbray is also the Duke of Norfolk. One of the challenges of reading a play versus watching it.
But anyway, yes, 1 Henry IV starts with the King using the royal "we" to describe England in a state of turmoil. "So shaken we are, so wan with care . . . " The King takes a broad view of things (a quality that probably helps his effectiveness as a politician). Whereas King Richard II begins the play arbitrating what seems a petty dispute between two nobles. Richard II is taking a microview of affairs, compared with Henry's macroview, an interesting contrast between two opening scenes as you point out.
The two nobles are: Henry Bolingbroke (who will eventually usurp Richard's reign), and Thomas Mowbray, the Duke of Norfolk. It's a bit difficult for me to figure out the exact nature of their dispute, but basically Bolingbroke is accusing Mowbray of misusing the King's funds and also of the recent murder of the Duke of Gloucester. I guess we will find out more about Gloucester's murder later in the play. For now it might help to know that the murdered Gloucester is John of Gaunt's brother. Gaunt is King Richard II's uncle and an adviser, and is also present in this first scene.
So King Henry IV in that opening scene is contemplating a crusade to help unite the people in his kingdom, a plan that will be sabotaged by an uprising within his kingdom. And Richard II in his opening scene is engaged in elaborate ritualization (the throwing down of the gage) as he tries to settle differences between two nobles that will soon have far-reaching consequences.
We will learn that Mowbray was probably acting on Richard II's orders when Gloucester was murdered. So both plays open with kings who are connected to a recent murder. Both reigns are tainted to some extent.
The game is afoot, ladies and gentlemen!