“True Time Broke”: Temporal Politics in William Shakespeare’s Richard Ii

Abstract

In Shakespeare's Richard II, the eponymous king's downfall is a profound study of time, sovereignty, and individual identity. Initially, King Richard wields his power over what he perceives as "natural" time, believing his divine right allows him to arbitrarily disregard established customs and succession, such as with his actions at the Coventry duel and the the seizing of Gaunt's fortune, together with bad government surrounded by sycophants. This hubris leads to his deposition and reduction to homo sacer, a state Agamben defines as "bare life" stripped of all political identity. This "unmaking" of his sovereign status, however, creates a powerful tragic anagnorisis. Confined to prison, Richard undergoes a profound transformation. Through the messianic potency of this kairotic moment, he attains a form-of-life—a subjective awareness of his authentic self, recognizing he "wasted time" and is now "wasted by time." This shift represents a katargesis of linear, historical time, where his physical death is imminent, but a new, deeply human existence emerges. Richard's tragic fate is not merely a political event but an opportunity for individual consciousness to emerge from within historical inevitability. This shift from historical to subjective time also pushes the play closer to tragedy, aptly concluding that hollow time is what remains from the hollow crown.