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Richard II and the Book of Life
- SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 51, Number 2, Spring 2011
- pp. 283-303
- 10.1353/sel.2011.0012
- Article
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Abstract
The Tragedy of Richard II is the only play by Shakespeare in which the phrase "book of life" or "book of heaven" occurs. The book of life is a register of names of those who will get into heaven. Richard's deposition is "[m]ark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of heaven" (IV.i.236). This paper argues that the tragedy is Richard's realization that anyone, even a divinely anointed king, can be blotted from the book of life and denied access to heaven.
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