I do not know the ending of Richard II, but the play foreshadows a tragic ending, with King Richard as its tragic hero. At the onset of the play, King Richard does not seem to be such a terrible character, and he appears to be rather righteous. (In fact, historically, Richard II was not as bad as Shakespeare later depicts.) But as the story progresses, we begin to notice some things that are off. For one thing, his joyful response to the news of his uncle’s sickness is far to cold to be of a righteous person, let alone a righteous king. His harmatia, or “fatal flaw” is his greed and hunger for power that elicits his response to the news of his uncle.

In many ways, King Richard is comparable to Macbeth, for the two kings share this fatal flaw. Queen Isabel is analogous to Lady Macbeth. Each plays their role as the typical female as emotional characters. Lady Macbeth has a guilty conscious for Macbeth’s deeds similar to how the queen senses that something bad will happen when King Richard leaves for Ireland. Both have a maternal type of paranoia that actually yields wise predictions.

On a side note, Richard II was not an easy read, as is any Shakespeare play. I have not yet ever seen a Shakespeare play performed live, and I am curious to see how the characters are played out, or whether or not I’ll be able to keep up.