Source: "Who Deposed Richard the Second?," in Essays in Criticism, Vol. XVII, No.4, October, 1967, Pl'. 411-33.

[In the essay that follow;, French analyzes the characters and structure of Richard II , maintaining that the play presents an inconsistent rendering of one of the key events in the play- the deposition of Richard French states that in the first half of the play, there is little to indicate that the king will be deposed, but in the second half of the play, other characters dearly view Richard as having been deposed]

A couple of years ago I saw a competent amateur performance of Richard II As it happened I had not read the play for some time, and I naturally approached it with certain assumptions in mind- assumptions derived ultimately, no doubt, from scholars such as Tillyard. But as I watched, I first felt puzzled, then irritated, and finally...