What Does the Play Mean to Us Now?

Abstract

Richard II looks as though it should provide evidence on what Shakespeare himself really believed. The current fashion is to see him as conservative, as Graham Greene places him: ‘If there is one supreme poet of conservatism, of what we now call the Establishment, it is he’ (‘The Virtue of Disloyalty’, The Portable Graham Greene, [Harmondsworth, 1977], p. 606). Colin MacInnes concludes: ‘It is hard … to pinpoint Shakespeare’s moral attitudes, unless to say that he respected formal society, disliked cruelty, and seemed to believe evil won its own retribution’ (No Novel Reader, [London, 1975], p. 18). And Martin Fido: ‘When we look at the plays, we find the cautious conservatism of his business dealings and social aspirations confirmed … From start to finish we find an acceptance of the status quo, a respect for the established social order, and a distaste for change … The truest description we can from our knowledge give of Shakespeare the man is, I believe, an unusually cautious conservative’ (Shakespeare, [London, 1975], p. 140). Richard II perhaps presents what might be called a fatalistic view of human affairs: problems continue, whoever is king.