Richard II Loyalty Quotes

Richard hastily describes Bushy, Bagot, and Green as three Judases, assuming they've betrayed him. (Judas is the disciple who betrays Jesus in the New Testament.) Richard is obviously thinking of himself as the betrayed Christ – a comparison he loves making. But right after saying this, he learns that his "Judases" have been executed – they died for him. Would Christ have cursed his friends and called them Judases? Just the opposite: Christ forgave Judas. But it's typical of Richard to see himself as better than he is.

Here York quickly switches from a description of Richard's suffering to a matter-of-fact announcement that he, York, is now loyal to King Henry. York might be the character most obsessed with loyalty in the play, but he's ironically also the most fickle.

When the Duke of York finds out that his son Aumerle is plotting against King Henry, he wants to turn him in for treason. But his wife, the Duchess of York, isn't having it – Aumerle is their son, and there's no way she's going to let her husband's loyalty to the king put her child's life in danger. She says that if York had given birth to Aumerle ("groan'd for him") like she did, maybe he'd feel different.