Richard and Magna Carta

“No freeman shall be arrested, imprisoned, dispossessed of his estate, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him except by lawful judgment of his peers or the law of the land.” (Clause 39 of Magna Charta, Great Britain, 1215)

Shakespeare's Richard violates just about every provision of this clause. He "arrested, imprisoned" and "destroyed" the Duke of Gloucester without the "lawful judgment of his peers or the law of the land"; he banished the Duke of Norfolk and the Duke of Hereford; and he dispossessed the Duke of Hereford of his estate.

"A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. " So says the Declaration of Independence. These words could apply to Richard as well, as could these words from the Declaration: "The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states."

At this point, however, Shakespeare and the Founders diverge. The Americans see the tryanny of the King as givng them a right and even a duty to "throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security." If, however, we take Carlisle as expressing the view of Shakespeare, there is no right to throw off even a tyrannical government: "What subject can give sentence on his king?" (IV.i.21)