Man's Folly
Shakespeare keenly describes the paradigm of English rule during the middle ages up to the renaissance. John of Gaunt describes England as a garden, this I believe was a statement that was directed toward the monarchy and the current "status" of the king, having soiled the kingship of many kings before him. The great folly of man has always been him seeing himself as "God" on earth, and thusly acting in the, "interest of God", when in reality he is justifying his own gain by these means.
John of Gaunt in Scene 2, Act 1, speaks of England by saying in part, …"This blessed plot, this earth, this England, this nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, Feared by their breed and famous by their birth," … (Act 2, Scene 1, lines 50-52) We can see Shakespeare using imagery of the garden spoken of by Gaunt, much as a garden needs to be planted, tended and nurtured, the growth and self-sustaining nature that was the ideal monarchy in England needed to be cultivated through careful planning, defense, conquest, and compassion for the common folk of the land. It is through the folly of King Richard II in this scene that we see that the garden that Gaunt describes is being neither tended, nor nurtured by used to ill-gotten gain. The tragedy of Richard II seems to be his hubris, as was illustrated by his statement in response to Gaunt's speech after his exit, "A lunatic lean witted fool, presuming on an arguments privilege, darest with thy frozen admonition." (Act 2 scene 1, Line 115-17) Thus, was a common state of the monarchy of his day, elevating themselves to the heights of God, and not considering His will or the will or need of the people. Act 3 finds a gardener and his two men speaking near the presence of the queen and her ladies in waiting of England again as a garden saying: "When our sea walled garden, the whole land, is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up, her fruit trees all unpruned, her hedges ruined, her knots disordered and her wholesome herbs, Swarming with caterpillars?"(Scene 4 Line 43-7). My understanding of the context in which these words were spoken, I believe that the weeds were the monarchs and their courts, and the conflict they perpetuated during their collective reign, speaking most directly about Richard II. We are seeing the beginning of the dissention and the deposition of Richard II, all due to the carelessness of his conquest, and the spending or use of resources, and his subjects. In Act 4 scene one we see Bolingbroke, and others adjourning a tribunal of sorts to place King Richard II …show more content…
Carlisle, in this case demonstrating extraordinary loyalty to his king even if he knew the king was wrong spoke of King Richard as the anointed of God and spoke: "...And if you crown him, let me Prophesy: the blood of England shall manure the ground, (4.1.137-39), then goes on a bit later to say, " … the field of Golgotha and dead man's skulls, Oh, if you raise this house against this house, it will the woefullest division prove, that ever fell upon this cursed Earth."(4.1.145-48). Proving that while it is noted that Richard was certainly an inapt leader and Bolingbroke may have been a better leader politically, Carlisle saw this move as an affront to God and was attempting to warn against
Shakespeare keenly describes the paradigm of English rule during the middle ages up to the renaissance. John of Gaunt describes England as a garden, this I believe was a statement that was directed toward the monarchy and the current "status" of the king, having soiled the kingship of many kings before him. The great folly of man has always been him seeing himself as "God" on earth, and thusly acting in the, "interest of God", when in reality he is justifying his own gain by these means.
John of Gaunt in Scene 2, Act 1, speaks of England by saying in part, …"This blessed plot, this earth, this England, this nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, Feared by their breed and famous by their birth," … (Act 2, Scene 1, lines 50-52) We can see Shakespeare using imagery of the garden spoken of by Gaunt, much as a garden needs to be planted, tended and nurtured, the growth and self-sustaining nature that was the ideal monarchy in England needed to be cultivated through careful planning, defense, conquest, and compassion for the common folk of the land. It is through the folly of King Richard II in this scene that we see that the garden that Gaunt describes is being neither tended, nor nurtured by used to ill-gotten gain. The tragedy of Richard II seems to be his hubris, as was illustrated by his statement in response to Gaunt's speech after his exit, "A lunatic lean witted fool, presuming on an arguments privilege, darest with thy frozen admonition." (Act 2 scene 1, Line 115-17) Thus, was a common state of the monarchy of his day, elevating themselves to the heights of God, and not considering His will or the will or need of the people. Act 3 finds a gardener and his two men speaking near the presence of the queen and her ladies in waiting of England again as a garden saying: "When our sea walled garden, the whole land, is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up, her fruit trees all unpruned, her hedges ruined, her knots disordered and her wholesome herbs, Swarming with caterpillars?"(Scene 4 Line 43-7). My understanding of the context in which these words were spoken, I believe that the weeds were the monarchs and their courts, and the conflict they perpetuated during their collective reign, speaking most directly about Richard II. We are seeing the beginning of the dissention and the deposition of Richard II, all due to the carelessness of his conquest, and the spending or use of resources, and his subjects. In Act 4 scene one we see Bolingbroke, and others adjourning a tribunal of sorts to place King Richard II …show more content…
Carlisle, in this case demonstrating extraordinary loyalty to his king even if he knew the king was wrong spoke of King Richard as the anointed of God and spoke: "...And if you crown him, let me Prophesy: the blood of England shall manure the ground, (4.1.137-39), then goes on a bit later to say, " … the field of Golgotha and dead man's skulls, Oh, if you raise this house against this house, it will the woefullest division prove, that ever fell upon this cursed Earth."(4.1.145-48). Proving that while it is noted that Richard was certainly an inapt leader and Bolingbroke may have been a better leader politically, Carlisle saw this move as an affront to God and was attempting to warn against