Richard II and the Unforgetting Messiah

Abstract

Critics have long agreed that Shakespeare’s Richard II is deeply related to the Christian messiah, but they rarely think beyond a simple acknowledgment of the fact that Richard is a “Christ figure.” This essay argues that critics have failed to acknowledge fully Richard’s messianic character because they have operated without a fully informed theory of the messianic — a theory that questions the trustworthiness of standard historical narratives and narrative arcs. Richard’s analogical self-forgetting issues from a traditional theology handed down from Aquinas. A diverse set of writers — from Vida to Agamben — have described these modes of self-forgetting and analogy as the work of the messiah. This essay argues that Shakespeare deserves inclusion in this group.