Richard II by William Shakespeare

Richard II by William Shakespeare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found this one to be the most straightforward of Shakespeare's War of Roses plays that I've read so far. ( I previously read the three parts of Henry VI.) It was much easier to follow the action, though it was not the most interesting play. The entire scene with Duke York trying to turn his own son Aumerle in seemed a bit unlikely.

"GAUNT:
O! but they say the tongues of dying men
Enforce attention like deep harmony:
Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain,
For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.
He that no more must say is listen’d more
Than they whom youth and ease have taught to glose;
More are men’s ends mark’d than their lives before:
The setting sun, and music at the close,
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,
Writ in remembrance more than things long past:
Though Richard my life’s counsel would not hear,
My death’s sad tale may yet undeaf his ear.”

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