49 pages • 1 hour read
William Shakespeare, Roma Gill, Robert JacksonRichard II
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act IChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act I, Scene 1 Summary
At Windsor Castle, King Richard summons two quarreling nobles: Henry Bolingbroke, the Duke of Hereford, accuses Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, of treason. Bolingbroke says that Mowbray has been plotting against the king for many years and that he was responsible for the murder of the Duke of Gloucester, uncle of both the king and Bolingbroke.
Richard claims to be impartial and he listens to what each man says. Mowbray repudiates the accusation and says that Bolingbroke is lying. Richard tries to get them to calm down and be reconciled but, when he sees this is not possible, he acquiesces in their desire for a trial by combat. He commands that the trial take place at Coventry on Saint Lambert’s day in September.
Act I, Scene 2 Summary
Bolingbroke’s father, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, talks with the Duchess of Gloucester, the murdered duke’s widow. Gaunt is reluctant to pursue the murderers of his brother and the duchess fiercely reproaches him for his inaction. She says it is cowardice not to seek vengeance against the murderers—if he does not, he may end up being murdered himself. Gaunt still resists, saying that vengeance must be left to God. The duchess eagerly awaits the combat between Bolingbroke and Mowbray, hoping it will result in Mowbray’s death.
Related Titles
By these authors
All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare, Іван Франко, Barbara A. Mowat, Ivan Franko, Panteleimon Kulish, Cynthia Marshall, Ludwig Tieck, August Wilhelm von Schlegel, Paul Werstine
As You Like It
William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine
Coriolanus
William Shakespeare, Roma Gill, William Aldis Wright, Francis Fergusson
Cymbeline
William Shakespeare, Harold Bloom, Gabriele Baldini
Hamlet
William Shakespeare, Israel Gollancz, Harold Bloom, Rex Gibson, Henry Norman Hudson, Max J. Herzberg, L.A. Sherman
Henry IV, Part Two
William Shakespeare, David Scott Kastan, David Bevington
Henry V
William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat, Michael Neill, Paul Werstine
Henry VIII
William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine
Henry VI, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare, Roma Gill, Harold Bloom, William Allan Neilson
King Henry IV, Part 1
William Shakespeare, David Scott Kastan
King Henry VI, Part 3
William Shakespeare, John D. Cox, Eric Rasmussen
King John
William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine
King Lear
William Shakespeare, William James Rolfe
Love's Labour's Lost
William Shakespeare, Henry R. Woudhuysen
Macbeth
William Shakespeare, Jack Armstrong, Carmen Kahn
Measure for Measure
William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine
Much Ado About Nothing
Gail Kern Paster, Robert Jackson, Barbara A. Mowat, Henry Norman Hudson, F.H. Mares, Henry Irving, Frederick S. Boas, Paul Werstine, William Shakespeare
Featured Collections
British Literature
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Historical Fiction
View Collection
Loyalty & Betrayal
View Collection
Order & Chaos
View Collection
Plays That Teach History
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Shakespeare
View Collection
Tragic Plays
View Collection