SOURCE: Black, James. “The Interlude of the Beggar and the King in Richard II.” In Pageantry in the Shakespearean Theater, edited by David M. Bergeron, pp. 104-13. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1985.

In the following essay, Black contends that Act IV, scenes ii-iii of Richard II validate rather than mock the stately rituals of the deposition scene that precedes them. The critic argues that during the grievous pageant of his uncoronation, Richard becomes a self-declared beggar, praying for the same dispensation from Henry IV that Aumerle asks of him in the subsequent scenes.

Everyone is by now perfectly familiar with the point of view that regards Richard II as an exposé of the sham of kingship. Criticism has come, with its little pin, to pierce through the hollow crown or burst the bubble of “Ceremony.” And we also are familiar with the idea that a metaphor of playacting...