Act 3 scene 2
Richard has three speeches in this scene; this first one reads as a "set" speech, one he prepared for the condition of his return to English soil. In this speech he takes the Renaissance Christian Humanist view that since God ordained Richard as King, then he would support him using natural means, the spiders, stinging nettles, adder, etc. At this first speech, Richard seems optomistic, believing he can will against any rebellion.
Richard uses the Renaissance Christian Humanist language of metaphor to associate himself with the sun and since he has been away in Ireland, it was as if the sun was behind clouds. He believes that when he returns to England, Bolingbroke and those that support him, will feel guilty and the rebellion will dissolve. But Bolingbroke does not seem at all guilty when he confronts Richard. Again, Richard believes God will send his angels to fight against all earthly foes. However, in Shakespeare, God does not intervene the way the Greek gods used to come down to change or arrange the endings of plays. Thus the Machiavellian view that man must seize power himself, and he that has the power will win, seems to win.
Salisbury comes to tell Richard news of the dispersal of the Welsh men. So now Richard is down, depressed. Throughout this scene, Richard seems on a roller-coaster, up and down, up and down.
When Richard says he has forgotten himself, in truth he has never known himself as a person. His entire life he has seen himself as his role, as the king, but has not examined himself as a man. He does not do this until Act 5, scene 2, but since he is killed immediately thereafter, it is too late.
This reads like a rationalization. He is beginning to think each new messenger will bring worse news. Again he is down, depressed, but trying to face the inevitable. SEE WORST IN LEAR
Richard misinterprets Scroop to think that Bushy and Green have betrayed him and joined Bolingbroke. Richard calls them "three Judases" thus associating himself with Christ.
When Richard gives this speech, he ends up on the ground, down, engaging in self-pity. The motif of high/low, up/down shows Richard as down compared to Bolingbroke.
Richard gives up and concedes to Bolingbroke. The language associates Richard with the moon (the lowest level of the Great Chain of Being) to Bolingbroke's sun (the highest level). Richard in this scene has been optomistic at the beginning, then down with the news of the Welshmen leaving, back up with his belief that God will fight for him or that his name will bring support, back down with the report of all those who have joined with Bolingbroke. He is emotionally unstable in both extremes rather than able to maintain the golden mean. But the fact that Richard is emotional means that Shakespeare is letting Richard take over the play because he is at least available to us emotionally.