Richard II · Chapter
Scene II explained
In the Duke of Lancaster's palace, John of Gaunt and the Duchess of Gloucester mourn the murder of the Duke of Gloucester.
What happens
In the Duke of Lancaster's palace, John of Gaunt and the Duchess of Gloucester mourn the murder of the Duke of Gloucester. The Duchess urges Gaunt to seek revenge, but Gaunt refuses to raise arms against King Richard, God's anointed deputy. The Duchess resigns herself to grief and departs, asking Gaunt to commend her to Edmund York.
Themes in this chapter
Grief and Mortality
The Duchess's lament over Gloucester's death and her own desolate future highlight the theme of grief and the finality of death.
Kingship and Divine Right
Gaunt's refusal to act against Richard because he is 'God's substitute' underscores the divine authority of the king.
Loyalty and Betrayal
The Duchess accuses Gaunt of disloyalty to his brother's memory, while Gaunt remains loyal to the king.
Characters to notice
- John of Gaunt
Grieves for his murdered brother but refuses to take revenge against the king, whom he sees as God's anointed deputy.
- Duchess of Gloucester
Passionately urges Gaunt to avenge her husband's death, but ultimately resigns herself to sorrow and isolation.
Key passages
“Alas, the part I had in Woodstock’s blood Doth more solicit me than your exclaims, To stir against the butchers of his life! But since correction lieth in those hands Which made the fault that we cannot correct, Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven;”
Gaunt says that his own kinship with Gloucester moves him more than the Duchess's pleas to avenge the murder, but since the king himself is responsible and cannot be punished, they must leave vengeance to God.
Gaunt expresses his internal conflict between familial loyalty and his belief in the king's divine right.
“Call it not patience, Gaunt; it is despair: In suffering thus thy brother to be slaughter’d, Thou showest the naked pathway to thy life, Teaching stern murder how to butcher thee:”
The Duchess argues that Gaunt's inaction is not patience but cowardice, and that by allowing Gloucester's murder to go unavenged, he is inviting his own death.
The Duchess challenges Gaunt's passivity, framing it as a dangerous precedent.
“God’s is the quarrel; for God’s substitute, His deputy anointed in His sight, Hath caused his death: the which if wrongfully, Let heaven revenge; for I may never lift An angry arm against His minister.”
Gaunt insists that the dispute belongs to God, because the king, as God's anointed representative, caused Gloucester's death; if it was unjust, heaven must punish him, as Gaunt cannot fight against the king.
Gaunt's refusal to act is rooted in the doctrine of divine right, which forbids rebellion against a monarch.
“Desolate, desolate, will I hence and die: The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye.”
The Duchess declares she will go away in utter desolation and die, and her tearful eyes bid Gaunt a final farewell.
The Duchess's exit emphasizes her overwhelming grief and isolation.