Richard II’s characteristics are the exact qualities for how kings fail and suffer a tragic ending. First of all, Richard is an incompetent king, who is unable to connect with his people. He is too busy in his court with all his attendants, who flatter Richard for personal gains. Richard is also lost in the fashions of his time. Already, a self-centered king not like very much by his people will need to change immediately. Richard disrespects John of Gaunt, Henry Bolingbroke’s father, when he is nearing his death. Richard is actually quite happy about this. When John of Gaunt dies, Richard takes the respected John of Gaunt assets. Richard, actually, has a cruel nature and does not want anyone being close to steal his throne. John of Gaunt even wants to warn Richard about his punishment from God before he dies, and he truly believes that God appoints the king. This is foreshadowing Richard losing his throne. A man so deeply believing that God controls the throne, tries to help Richard in the right direction only further serves as a message to Richard that he has to shape up his act.

What’s worse is that Richard is the leader of the group that killed Thomas of Gloucester. Richard plays a very political game. He banishes Henry from England, but he fails to notice that and pay attention to the fact that Henry can still come back and take the kingdom. He does so for only six years because Henry is the people’s champion and he has to satisfy the people by giving Thomas Mowbray a longer sentence. Richard is still in his own world making his own plans. His plan to steal John of Gaunt’s assets to fund for the war, shows how incompetent he is as a king. A good King does not need to steal to have a kingdom run smoothly. If Richard listened to the Duke of York, then Henry might have less of a support system when staging his coup. The Earl of Northumberland, Lord Willoughby, and Lord Ross would not have switched alliances. It’s such a pity that Richard does not listen to the elder’s wise words, possesses qualities that will only hinder the decadence of England and has a narrow scope of what is really going on.