리처드 2세의 정체성

Abstract

Criticism of King Richard II has tended to focus on the evaluation of Richard’s character. The critics viewing Richard negatively such as Harold Bloom and A. P. Rossiter are unsatisfied with the critics who are enthusiastic about Richard. One of the most important reasons they are arguing is that the critics in favor of Richard ignore Richard in the first two acts, in which Richard presents a portrait of a man of arbitrary and despotic force. They also don't agree with the critics who regard Richard as a consistent character. The reason Richard seems to be inconsistent is that his character rapidly changes as he experiences abdication. However, we can not say that Richard is not a character, even though his character varies in each act, because throughout the acts Richard himself has a social identity as a king except the final moment he discovers his true self. Also, he appreciates his situation and copes it as possible as he can. In this paper, I examine how Richard's self and identity develop and explore the possibility of essential identity separated from social identity. In Acts I-II, Richard has an identity as a king based on divine kinship, which he abuses. But in Act III, shortly after he is aware that he could die, he undergoes an identity crisis at first, questioning whether he is a king and perceiving he is just an ordinary man. In Act IV, Richard suffers the abandonment of his social identity as a king, but he surrenders to Bolingbroke, recognizing the situation he is facing. At the same time he takes advantage of the situation, revealing Bolingbroke’s moral defect. Richard is deprived of his social identity through his deposition and thus he laments his loss of identity. However, he does not despair. Instead, he decides to investigate his inner world and a real identity severed from kingship. Throughout the process, he finally has a moment of discovering his essential identity, saying that “with nothing shall be pleased, till he be eas’d/ With being nothing.” He realizes that his true self is irrelevant to any relationship in society. Postmodernist critics tend to deny human being’s essence and essential identity, but it is seen that essential identity could exist through the case of Richard.