Alea to ilinx

(show passage)

Whereas King Richard clings to the medieval conception of divine right and feudalism,
Bolingbroke, later King Henry, represents the new order of governance in the making in the
early modern period.

This particular passage the initial part of the deposition scene - rhetorically marks the
transition from Richards kingship to Bolingbrokes kingship.

(read passage)

I would like to focus on the notorious conceit of the two buckets in lines 186-189: on the one
hand, Richard is the heaviest bucket, full of the gravitas of divine right, yet unseen, thus
irrelevant; Bolingbroke, on the other hand, is dancing in the air, above Richard, but empty,
lacking the weight of legitimacy, despite popular support.

Noticeably, in the Middle Ages, the image of the Fortunes wheel and its rising and descending
provided an image paradigm for the rise and fall of kings. The Fortunes wheels image, then,
would be alea at play.

Yet, Richards well-and-bucket parable subverts this conventional image since it does not
present the normal functioning of a well: the heavier bucket goes down and not up, as it is
supposed to. Despite the simple language, Richards conceit is already a sign of ilix, or
subversion, at play.

As Z is going to show us, the simplicity in language will be gradually turned into a repetitive
and obsessed discourse.