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Paradox
Explanation and Analysis—Care Is Loss of Care:
In his speech to Bolingbroke upon being asked to surrender the throne, King Richard II paradoxically claims that his “care” (or concern) is precisely the “loss of care” that has resulted from his imminent dethroning. In his final moments as King, Richard states:
Your cares set up do not pluck my cares down.
My care is loss of care, by old care done;
Your care is gain of care, by new care won.
The cares I give I have, though given away.
They ’tend the crown, yet still with me they stay.
In this cryptic and riddle-like speech that repeats the word “care” in a number of different ways, Richard emphasizes the difficulties of kingship and the many worries that afflict a King, who must take responsibility for an entire nation while also fending off rivals (such as Bolingbroke). Nonetheless, he suggests paradoxically that his current “care” or woe is being removed from that difficult role and from the many smaller “cares” that come with it.
Rather than thinking of his dethronement of “loss of care” and responsibility, then, Richard argues in a striking paradox that his cares have been “given away” to the new wearer of the crown, and yet they have also stuck with him. Richard’s speech meditates on the strange role of a former King, who cannot even enjoy his newfound freedom from responsibility because his sense of identity is so wrapped up in the role that has been taken from him by force.
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