King Richard II (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author), Charles R. Forker (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1903436338 | ISBN-13: 978-1903436332 | Publication Date: March 21, 2002 | Edition: 3rd

This richly annotated edition takes a fresh look at the first part of Shakespeare's second tetralogy of history plays, showing how it relates to the other plays in the sequence. Forker places the play in its political context, discussing its relation to competing theories of monarchy, how it faced censorship because of possible comparisons between Richard II and Elizabeth I, and how Bolingbroke's rebellion could be compared to the Essex rising of the time. This edition also reconsiders Shakespeare's use of sources, asking why he chose to emphasize one approach over another. Forker also looks at the play's rich afterlife, and the many interpretations that actors and directors have taken. Finally, the edition looks closely at the aesthetic relationship between language, character, structure, and political import. A textual analysis of the play's eight early editions, a doubling chart for casting, and geneological tables are included as appendices.

The Arden Shakespeare has developed a reputation as the pre-eminent critical edition of Shakespeare for its exceptional scholarship, reflected in the thoroughness of each volume. An introduction comprehensively contextualizes the play, chronicling the history and culture that surrounded and influenced Shakespeare at the time of its writing and performance, and closely surveying critical approaches to the work. Detailed appendices address problems like dating and casting, and analyze the differing Quarto and Folio sources. A full commentary by one or more of the play’s foremost contemporary scholars illuminates the text, glossing unfamiliar terms and drawing from an abundance of research and expertise to explain allusions and significant background information. Highly informative and accessible, Arden offers the fullest experience of Shakespeare available to a reader.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
General Editors' Preface
Preface
Introduction
   Politics
     Historical Context and the Issue of Topicality
     The Connection with Essex
     Ideology: Competing Conceptions of Monarchy
     Characterization: Attitudes towards Richard and Bolingbroke
     Politics in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth- Century Stagings
   Language
     Style
     Imagery, Major Themes, Symbolism, Patterns of Allusion
     Rhetoric
   Afterlife
   The Date
     The Relation to Edward II and Woodstock
     Richard II and the Second Tetralogy
   Probable Venues of Early Performance
   Sources
     Holinshed
     Hall
     The Mirror for Magistrates
     Daniel
     Woodstock
     Froissart; Creton; Traison
     Edward II
     Minor Sources
   Text
THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND
Longer Notes
Appendices
 1 Textual Analysis
 2 Doubling Chart
 3 Genealogical Tables
Abbreviations and references
 Abbreviations used in notes
 Works by and partly by Shakespeare
 Editions of Shakespeare collated or referred to
 Other works
 Modern stage and television productions cited
Index

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles R. Forker is Professor of English Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington. His many publications include critical editions of Shirley's The Cardinal and Marlowe's Edward II, and a major study of the works of Webster, Skull Beneath the Skin: The Achievement of John Webster. His most recent work is a study of Shakespeare's Richard II, entitled Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition: 'Richard II'.

Product Details

• Paperback: 612 pages
• Publisher: Arden Shakespeare; 3rd edition (March 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1903436338
• ISBN-13: 978-1903436332
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Shakespeare's great histories in a most helpful and rich edition, April 20, 2006

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: King Richard II (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) (Paperback)

This play is the first of four histories involving the rise of Harry Bolingbroke into King Henry IV (parts I & II) and then his son, Prince Hal, into Henry V. These four plays are always popular with audiences and have many virtues, although they are quite different in affect and theatrical means. This play is full of poetry and carefully composed verse. The two Henry IV plays are blessed the Falstaff's glorious prose and Henry V has its own interesting dualities in Prince Hal finally becoming the King - are his comments sincere or full or irony or is he blind to the irony of his own making? But those are other plays.

As this play begins, the York line is in power as Richard II who came to power as a child. Henry Bolingbroke is the son of the Duke of Lancaster (John of Gaunt) and is also the Duke of Hereford as the Earl of Derby. Richard shows through his actions and weak decisions (both weak in strength and weak in acumen) that his hold on the throne is open to challenge. When Bolingbroke decides to make the challenge is open to debate, but he picks a fight with Mowbray and both end up banished instead. This causes a tremendous rift with the Duke of Lancaster and when he dies, Richard decides to seize Lancaster's possessions in Ireland instead of letting them pass to Bolingbroke.

Since Bolingbroke is now the new Duke of Lancaster he decides he is no longer the banished Duke of Hereford and returns to England. A number of rumors and challenges lead to Bolingbroke taking power and when Richard returns from Ireland his loss of his kingdom is accomplished without his realizing it. The rest of the play is the fall of Richard and the rise of Henry IV with the attendant strain on the loyalties of the peers.

Shakespeare's genius for verse and the exposition of character is blazingly manifest in this play and that is one of the reasons for its popularity and the walls of books written about this play. Richard's inwardness and self-absorption is quite communicated to us quite differently than Henry's boldness and aggression. The way the peers show their divided loyalties, anger, fear, and duplicity is also wonderfully done.

This Arden edition is from the third series and has some of the features of more modern scholarship. It is also almost exhaustively noted and resourced. The reader of this edition is given more than 150 pages of introductory material on the origins, language, meaning, and performance history of the play and can choose which to read and which to leave for another time. The notes on each page of text include notes to help the reader understand the text, but also notes on the history versus the play and Shakespeare's sources (such as Holinshead). There are longer notes at the back, and a textual analysis in the first appendix, a doubling chart for performance in appendix two, and a genealogical table for the third appendix (very useful). There is also a list of reference works and an index.

I am a huge fan of the Arden editions and enjoy reading the plays with all this helpful material and I strongly recommend this edition of this play.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent work of the editor, November 26, 2007

By 

islander "MAC" - See all my reviews

This review is from: King Richard II (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) (Paperback)

This is the best edition in the Arden collection I have read until now, by Charles Forker. Very helpful to understand meaning with clear footnotes and a serious introduction in which, for example, you learn about historical and fictional facts in the play, and many other clues.
I agreed with a reviewer of another Arden work who said: "The text itself is full of stumbling, often unhelpful endnotes - what students surely want are explanations of difficult words and figures, not a history of scholarly pedantry. The edition concludes with textual appendices."
It happened to me before but fortunately not in this work, which is excellent. The editor makes the difference. I hope Arden Series follows this line!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great value, September 17, 2010

By 

rpogo - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: King Richard II (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) (Paperback)

I purchased a used volume of Richard II by Shakespeare. It arrived in good condition and contained a lengthy introduction and many scholar's notes, which helped greatly in interpreting this play. This was a great value -- exceeded my expectations.