A Sun-King Reflected In A Looking-Glass In Shakespeare's "Richard Ii"

The fall of King Richard II and the rise of Henry Bolingbroke are represented in Shakespeare’s Richard II through a variety of emblems and allusions. The imagery and action of the play correspond closely; the recurrent imagery of rising and falling creates a significant relationship with the drama of the play. The play’s emblems and allusions serve a vital role in expressing the depiction of the characters and the dramatic theme of the play. Readers will struggle to find a scene at all where the imagery of rising and falling does not occur.

Two of the most significant emblems that convey this idea of Richard’s fall and Bolingbroke’s rise are the sun-king emblem and the mirror, or rather “looking-glass,” emblem. Throughout Richard II, many allusions are made to the fact that King Richard II is seen as the sun that shines over England. The sun is often times associated with majesty and glory and serves as a metaphor for kingly power and strength. In terms of the basic plot line of the story, a king Richard II is usurped. However, when viewing the play in terms of its symbols and poetic nature, the power and force of the king (Richard II) are dimmed and a rival body (Bolingbroke) eclipses the brightness of the current king.

The sun imagery in Richard II signifies the kingliness of Richard; however, this image is also important when considering the pattern of the play relating to time. References to Richard as the sun should not be viewed as static comparisons of the sun in the sky and the king on his throne, for the changing positions of Richard and Bolingbroke are represented by descriptions of the sun’s movement in the sky. Tracing the course of the sun’s movement suggests the natural progression of time and order. Shakespeare uses this idea of the sun to not only create an ideal standard of royalty, but also to discuss the disorder which would occur if the sun’s normal passage through the sky is interrupted.

In Act 3, we see the first instance of Richard directly comparing himself to the rising sun when he finds out that Bolingbroke has raised an army against him. While speaking to the Duke of Aumerle, Richard explains “when the searching eye of heaven is hid/behind the globe, that lights the lower world/Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen… (Shakespeare 3.2.37-39). Richard seems to see himself as the “searching eye of heaven,” or the sun; once the sun sets, this allows for thieves and robbers to roam around unseen. Richard further explains that once the sun comes up, or once he rises, he “darts his light through every guilty hole” and those criminals have nowhere to hide anymore.

Richard then identifies Bolingbroke as a traitor who “revelle’d in the night” and states that once Bolingbroke sees the sun rising and King Richard II coming up, he will tremble while his “treasons will sit blushing on his face” (3.2.48-51). Richard identifies night as a symbol of disorder when he learns of Bolingbroke’s rebellion. The association of Richard with the sun and of Bolingbroke with night establishes the nature of Bolingbroke’s disorder. By deposing the rightful king, Bolingbroke sends the kingdom into a night of chaos and disorder. In this scene, King Richard II presents himself as a symbol of goodness and light dispelling Bolingbroke’s night of disorder and sin. Richard’s confidence in his power wanes when he learns how few supporters he has left, and he internally expresses his “surrender” to Bolingbroke in Act 3 scene 2.

Richard exclaims to Aumerle and Scroop to “let [his followers] hence away/From Richard’s night to Bolingbroke’s fair day” (3.2.217-18). Richard has now transferred the sun image onto Bolingbroke and recognizes that his popularity and authority over his people are diminishing with the arrival of night terminating his reign. Richard’s connection of Bolingbroke with day signifies how his perception of the situation has changed since the beginning of this scene. In Act 3 scene 2, Bolingbroke claims that he will overshadow King Richard’s reign thereby interrupting the sun’s natural course. When confronting Richard at Flint Castle with his army, Bolingbroke directs his people to see Richard appear: As doth the blushing discontented sunFrom out the fiery portal of the east,When he perceives the envious clouds are bentTo dim his glory and to stain the trackOf his bright passage to the occident. (3.3.63-67)

Bolingbroke compares King Richard to the sun; however, he also acknowledges that this sun will soon be overshadowed by ominous clouds. Bolingbroke implies that his actions of overshadowing are only natural, like the clouds temporarily obscuring the sun’s brightness but not hindering its movement or changing the passing of time. By doing so, Bolingbroke links himself with the darkness which Richard identifies as the symbol of crime and disorder. As Richard descends to the base court in this same scene, he compares himself to the sun in a way which reveals the full range of Bolingbroke’s disorder and chaos. Richard adds elegance and anguish to his compromised position: “Down, down I come, like glist’ring Phaethon,/ Wanting the manage of unruly jades” (3.3.178-179).

In Ovid’s myth of Phaethon, the son of Apollo pleads to his father to allow him to borrow his chariot which drives the sun across the sky. Apollo urges his son to take back his words for what Phaethon “ask[s] for [is] power beyond [his] strength and years…”[footnoteRef:1] Phaethon loses control of the horses and rides too close to the Earth burning up trees and rivers. Zeus puts an end to this disaster by hitting Phaethon with a thunderbolt, sending him down to Earth. Richard’s comparison of himself to Phaethon is quite fitting as both exhibit foolish and youthful incompetence. This Phaethon image represents the violent act against time which Bolingbroke commits in deposing Richard.

Richard comparing himself to Phaethon identifies him as the irresponsible son who falls because he has rejected the advice of his elder counselors. Furthermore, by interrupting the movement of the sun through his usurpation of Richard, Bolingbroke is destroying the natural order and sending the kingdom into chaos. King Richard II’s use of a mirror throughout the play can serve as a symbol of both vanity and self-knowledge. During the deposition scene in Act 4 scene 1, Richard requests a mirror to view his face in order to examine the changes he believes this event has had on his face. Richard looks in the mirror and expects to see sorrow and grief embodied on his face: “No deeper wrinkles yet?/Hath sorrow struck so many blows upon this face of mine/And made no deeper wounds?” (4.1.277-79).

As he continues looking into the mirror, he sees that his face has remained much the same: “O flatt’ring glass/…thou dost beguile me?” (4.1.279-281) Confused as to why his face hasn’t aged due to his suffering, Richard accuses the mirror of “beguile[ing]” him by making him look better than how he feels. To Richard, his face does not seem to reflect the depth of his despair; he repeatedly questions whether his face was truly the face of the king: “Was this the face the face. That every day under his household roof. Did keep ten thousand men? Was this the face. That like the sun did make beholders wink? Is this the face which faced so many follies,That was last outfaced by Bolingbroke? (4.1.281-286)

The word “face” takes on two separate uses throughout Bolingbroke’s speech. It is the face that “faced so many follies” and “was last outfaced by Bolingbroke.” The first use of the term is to denote Richard’s physical face and its reflection in the mirror. The second use is to denote the sense of a face-to-face confrontation (“face”).[footnoteRef:3] Both uses of the term “face” when used with the presence of the mirror contributes to the theme of vanity and self-knowledge involved with Richard’s looking-glass. [3: "face, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, July 2018. Web. 29 September 2018.] After repeatedly questioning his reflection, Richard grabs the mirror and shatters it into a hundred pieces claiming that sorrow has destroyed his face. This symbolic action of breaking the mirror represents his broken sense of self and how shattered he truly feels by the loss of his crown.

The fragility of the glass can also symbolize the fragility and impermanence of Richard’s life itself and his status as ruler of the kingdom. The mirror as a reflector of truth allows him a moment of deeper insight into his own nature. The mirror scene is not only filled with Richard’s hostility towards Bolingbroke, but also with a determination to confront his own morality and inners demons. His speech seems to be intensely private and reflective, but it can also be seen as a sort of performance; Richard’s words reflect not only upon himself but also upon Bolingbroke. By looking in the mirror, Richard is viewing his own troubled past and predicting Bolingbroke’s future. His breaking of the mirror signifies a moral epiphany on the part of the Richard, but also serves as a warning to Bolingbroke that his own fate will be met with destruction and ruin. When he looks in the mirror, Richard no longer sees himself and questions the reflection looking back at him. For King Richard II, there seems to be an incongruity between his external self and his interior life; the reflection with which he is confronted no longer corresponds to the face that he expects to see.

Shakespeare’s choice of emblems and allusions throughout the play are woven deeply into the story where in each of them symbolizes or supports one of the fundamental ideas of the story. Central to the play’s theme of the rise of Bolingbroke and the fall of King Richard II are the emblems of the sun-king and the looking-glass. Each time these emblems reappear throughout the play it deepens and enriches the meaning of both the emblems themselves and the central theme of the play. The language and emblems of Richard II are vital in understanding the play’s central themes and fundamental ideas.

Bibliography:

1. Shakespeare, William. King Richard II. Ed. Charles R. Forker. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2002. Print.Ovid. Metamorphoses. Translated by Rolfe Humphries, Indiana University Press, 1955.
2. Schuler, Robert M. “Magic Mirrors in ‘Richard II.’” Comparative Drama, vol. 38, no. 2/3, 2004, pp. 151–181.
3. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41154227."face, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, July 2018. Web. 29 September 2018.