Shakespeare’s Unhistorical Inventions and Deviations from Holinshed, and Their Dramatic Functions in Richard II
Shakespeare’s Unhistorical Inventions and Deviations from Holinshed, and Their Dramatic Functions in Richard II

Author(s): Yun-Cheol Kim
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Cultural history, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature, British Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Richard II; Holinshed’s Chronicles; Shakespeare
Summary/Abstract: Much of the dramaturgical genius of Shakespeare’s later master tragedies is already to be found in Richard II, especially in his treatment of the main source: Holinshed’s Chronicles. This essay aims to explore Shakespeare’s departures from Holinshed in terms of characters and structure, and to see how they function in the drama. Shakespeare has changed Holinshed’s self-seeking Gaunt into an aged patriot to emphasize Richard’s weaknesses as King. He has matured Queen Isabel from a historical seven-year-old child to a fully grown woman, and facilitated Richard’s journey into self-discovery. In the garden scene that Shakespeare has invented, he even lets her, as Richard’s proxy, eavesdrop on the gardener’s admonitions on royal governance, in which Richard has failed. Most importantly, in terms of structure, Shakespeare puts the deposition scene before a large assembly in Westminster Hall, unlike historic Richard whose resignation was tendered by letter in the Tower of London. This invention, or deviation, enhances Richard as a tragic hero who has finally achieved self-knowledge, reconciliation to his fate, and victory in defeat. Shakespeare’s inventions and deviations from Holinshed in Richard II have foreshadowed some dramaturgical principles of his later great tragedies and surely put the play into a drama of truly tragic stature.

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