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Essay on Comparing the Defective Rulers in Henry IV and Richard II

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Defective Rulers in Henry IV and Richard II

It has been shown again and again throughout history and literature that if there is a perfect human he is not also the perfect ruler. Those traits which we hold as good, such as the following of some sort of moral code, interfere with the necessity of detachment in a ruler. In both Henry IV and Richard II, Shakespeare explores what properties must be present in a good ruler. Those who are imperfect morally, who take into account only self-interest and not honor or what is appropriate, rise to rule, and stay in power.

Throughout Richard II, Bolingbroke is up against King Richard. Richard is, to a considerable degree, the morally void opportunist: he does after …show more content…

My Lord of Westminster, be it your charge

To keep him safely till his day of trial.

May it please you, lords, to grant the Commons suit?

Bolingbroke: Fetch hither Richard, that in common view

He may surrender; so we shall proceed

Without suspicion.'

while he remains blameless and pure. Bolingbroke is the superior ruler because he combines Richard's total lack of morality with deception.

The slip that nearly costs Bolingbroke ( Henry ) his crown in Henry IV is a violation of the principle that got Henry the crown. For a moment the king is angered by Hotspur's prancing about his denied prisoners, and lets Hotspur know the reason for his ignoring Mortimer's capture. Henry openly tells Hotspur and the crown of nobles present that he does not ever intend to pay Mortimer's ransom, and calls Hotspur an enemy to the crown for expecting his brother's ransom. In a moment of anger, Henry has openly displayed his total lack of sympathy for the separated brothers, and called both threats to his kingship. And he walks away! Henry could easily have maintained control here by simply matching Hotspur's appearances and eloquence, and promising and delaying Mortimer's ransom. Instead he lays open his Machiavellian intentions and walks off after laying down a threat. His anger here is in some ways a virtue,

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