Richard II by William Shakespeare

Richard says that for his entire life death, “the antic sits, / Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp”. Only when sun starts to set on his life, and Bolingbroke draws near, does he realize that he is not fit to be a king. The Initiation is supposed to be when the protagonist comes into a new level of maturity. King Richard’s monologue in the second scene of the third act is how he voices the way he has matured in the face of crisis and how he now looks at his world. He talks scornfully of his previous self, the monarch, who the death could laugh at. Richard goes on to condemn his fellows for considering him to be something greater than he is. For Richard the Initiation is about coming to grips with his own mortality and being content with this new “mortal” self. He understands that he too “must live with bread” and sees himself as having know write to be called king.