Shakespeare's Richard II

Careful analysis of John Locke's Two Treatises of Government reveals the author's fairly rigid attitude towards the constitution, right and responsibilities of a political state. When applying Locke's well defined principles to Henry Bolingbroke's overthrow of Richard II for rights to the throne of England in the late 14th century in Shakespeare's Richard II, several parallel situations are found which Locke primarily refers to in a hypothetical sense. When examining Shakespeare's work from an erudite perspective, one may perceive that in many ways, Bolingbroke and Richard II's struggle for power -- along with the surrounding circumstances of the political state and the lot of its commoners -- actually mirror several circumstances which Locke portrays in his book. By interpreting the events in Shakespeare's drama through the mandates outlined in Two Treatises of Government, it becomes apparent that Locke would have willingly sanctioned Bolingbroke's usurpation of the throne...
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