In "Richard II," the original sin erupts that will become the catalyst for great historical misfortunes. For an entire century, the English nation will be shaken by subterranean convulsions, the entire series of conflicts culminating in the Wars of the Roses.

This "original" sin is the deposition and violent death of King Richard II. Richard was certainly not an ideal monarch. A noble character, yet weak, he belonged to those individuals who, while at the height of their power, exhibited the unpredictability of people who have not truly engaged with reality, their path a blessed journey.

With exquisite artistry, the great Poet builds up in the third act the blows that will gradually awaken the consciousness of the young king and illuminate it like lightning with their cold, dramatic light. These are the moments when everyone around him abandons him, betrays him.

From there on, his path will become rough, uphill, difficult—a road of martyrdom, a gradual and corrosive acquisition of the bitter, absolute knowledge for mankind. Now crushed, deposed, he will reveal himself to be a true king. He will have completed the circle of a blood-stained apprenticeship, culminating in the necessary, purifying elevation of death.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]