Character Summary

King Richard II: Richard of Bordeaux

John of Gaunt: Duke of Lancaster, uncle to the king, and Bullingbrook's father

Bullingbrook: the Duke of Herford, son to John of Gaunt, and the eventual king of England (Henry IV)

Thomas Mowbray: Duke of Norfolk who is accused of treason by Bullingbrook and who is exiled by Richard for life

Duchess of Gloucester: the widowed wife of the murdered Duke of Gloucester (Thomas of Woodstock) who pleas John of Gaunt to avenge her husband's and John of Gaunt's brother's death

Duke of Aumerle: the son to the Duke of York, Edmund of Langley, and the cousin to Bullingbrook and King Richard who is demoted to the Earl of Rutland due to his involvement in the Duke of Gloucester's murder

Lord Marshall: officer in charge of conducting the preliminary formalities that precede a knight's duel

Sir Henry Green: one of Richard's trusted underlings

Sir John Bushy: another of Richard's trusted underlings

Edmund of Langley: the Duke of York and King Richard's uncle, he rebukes his nephew for appropriating John of Gaunt's wealth for the wars in Ireland

Queen: King Richard's wife

Earl of Northumberland: one of the nobles most sympathetic to the Duke of Herford's (Bullingbrook's) cause

Lord Ross: a noble sympathetic to Bullingbrook's cause

Lord Willoughby: another nobel sympathetic to Bullingbrook's cause

Sir John Bagot: yet another of King Richard's trusted underlings

Servingman: a servant who informs the Duke of York of the Duchess of Gloucester's death

Henry Percy: a.k.a. Hotspur, he is Northumberland's son

Lord Berkeley: one of the nobles who stands with the Duke of York against the overwhelming might of Bullingbrook's forces

Earl of Salisbury: a noble loyal to King Richard who fails to persuade the Welsh to wait and fight for King Richard

Captain: the leader of a group of a Welsh fighting force who is unable to rally his troops to remain faithful to King Richard

Bishop of Carlisle: a cleric who is faithful to King Richard and who tries to assure the King that his cause is not lost when it becomes apparent that the King's cause is indeed lost

Sir Stephen Scroop: man who is faithful to King Richard and who brings awful tidings as to the sway of the general public in favor of Bullingbrook, not to mention York's defection

Lady: she who attends on the Queen and who tries in vain to keep the Queen distracted during her heaviest hour

Gardeners: two gardeners in the Queen's service who are overheard (by the Queen) talking about King Richard's deposition

Lord Fitzwater: a noble who stands with Bagot against the Duke of Aumerle with respect the Duke of Gloucester's murder

Duke of Surrey: a noble who stands with the Duke of Aumerle against Lord Fitzwater and Bagot with respect the Duke of Gloucester's murder

Abbot of Westminster: a cleric who is ordered to keep Aumerle and Carlisle in custody until the day of their trial, but who is secretly in league with Aumerle and Carlisle to plot against Bullingbrook

Duchess of York: wife to the Duke of York who tries to have her son's (Aumerle's) life pardoned when it becomes apparent that her son is part of a conspiracy to assassinate Bullingbrook

Sir Pierce Exton: the noble on who takes it upon himself to kill Richard, believing that King Henry (formerly Bullingbrook and the Duke of Herford) would approve

Groom: King Richard's servant who was in charge of taking care of Richard's horse, Barbary, a roan, and who visits the fallen King in Pomfret on his way to York

Keeper: Richard's jailer in Pomfret who is beaten by Richard when he refuses to taste Richard's food, which he was wont to do as a service to Richard (in case the food is poisoned) prior to Sir Pierce Exton's order not to