Friday, April 4, 2008

Who Murdered the Duke of Gloucester? Part 2

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.
(I.ii.37-41)

These are the words of John of Gaunt, King Richard's uncle and the brother of Thomas of Woodstock, the Duke of Gloucester. It is in this scene that we see the importance of Gloucester's death: it is for Shakespeare the outstanding example of Richard's badness as a king and the best argument for his overthrow.

John of Gaunt, as we see here, knows Richard to be responsible for Gloucester's death. He denies, however, that he or anyone else has the right to take up arms against Richard for this or any other crime. No matter what Richard's sins, to kill or depose him would be itself great sin, because Richard is "God's subsitute, His deputy in His sight" and "His minister." If Richard is guilty of his brother's murder, then it is for God alone to avenge it. (At the beginning of the scene, Gaunt says in the same vein, "Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven; Who, when they see the hours ripe on earth, Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads" (I.ii.6-8).

We can tell from the words of the Duke of Gloucester's widow in this same scene that she believes that Mowbray was a party to her husband's murder. She hopes that he, at least, will get his just deserts at the hands of Bolingbroke:

O, sit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear,
That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breast!
Or, if misfortune miss the first career,
Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom,
They may break his foaming courser's back,
And throw the rider headlong in the lists,
A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford!
(I.ii.47-52)

It is in the grief of the Duchess of Gloucester ("Desolate, desolate will I hence and die") that we see how bad a king Richard really is.

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