That he had not so trimm ’ d and dress ’ d his land As we this garden ! We at time of year Do wound the bark , the skin of our fruit-trees , Lest , being over-proud in sap and blood , With too much riches it confound itself : Had he done so to great and growing men , They might have lived to bear and he to taste Their fruits of duty : superfluous branches We lop away , that bearing boughs may live : Had he done so , himself had borne the crown , Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down . 2
Had Richard taken care of England as the Gardener and the Servant are going to take care of their garden , i . e . elevating individuals but also being aware of their faults and thus giving them punishment when it is due , and not letting them grow in power and prestige while they were not worthy of it , “ justice ” would have been done to all , and Richard himself would have benefited from it , reaping the fruit . But Richard proved to be a poor gardener , and look what has happened to him and his garden now . Beyond Richard II , Shakespeare ’ s intention might have been to warn Queen Elizabeth that profligacy and rashness do not pay , and that she should be more careful about whom she lowers and whom she lifts .
As a result of Richard ’ s incompetence , Bolingbroke , as the issue of John of Gaunt , King Edward III ’ s fourth son and head of House of Lancaster , and under the pretext that Richard had no issues , claimed the throne of England for himself . This was true , but Richard had already named 2
For all the Shakespeare citations in this paper , I have referenced the MIT online version of Shakespeare History Plays accessible via this link : http :// shakespeare . mit . edu /
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