Act 4 scene 1 -- Abdication or Deposition (Usurpation) Scene
This scene is to be contrasted to Act 1 scene 1: once again the question of who killed the Duke of Gloucester and two different people are coming before a judge. But this act does not have the ceremony, the ritual of the first; it may show the difference between Bolingbroke as ruler and Richard. We see many of the same events played out again such as Exton killing Richard to please Bolingbroke just as Mowbray may have killed Gloucester to please Richard.
This is the purpose of the scene. Bolingbroke (Henry IV) wants Richard to abdicate so he would have a stronger claim to the throne, without suspicion. Richard sees himself as being deposed by Henry.
Richard is becoming increasingly ironic, sarcatic in his speech. Richard's purposes are to undertand his role now, whereas Bolingbroke's purposes are political. Richard still refers to himself as Christ with Judas falsely swearing loyalty to him, so his language is still metaphoric. He doesn't begin to speak like a normal person until his soliloquy in Act 5.
Richard wants the action in this scene to seem like Bolingbroke taking the crown away from him. Here Richard comes up with his first original metaphor: the bucket metaphor. The idea is of two buckets, only one of which can be in the well at a time, filled with water, while the other is up in the air but without water. Again we have high/low imagery but it is the opposite; to be high is to be full of air (nothing) and to be low is to be full of something, of substance. Shakespeare is revealing the internal growth of Richard at the expense of Bolingbroke.
These would convince the court that Richard is worthily deposed. This goes to the question of kingship and what responsibility the King has toward his subjects, which if he did not fulfill those responsibilities, it does not matter if he was annointed by God, he does not deserve to be king.
Richard is feeling sorry for himself again; he claims that more than his role can be taken from him, but also his self. Richard is using a lot of water imagery (his tears, the snow, waterdrops) to Bolingbroke's "sun."
flattery imagery, looking into self--outward appearance vs inward truth
Reinforces Richard's internal growth, as he is at the bottom politically. Richard is making Bolingbroke his foil, opposite from the beginning of play. Richard is now getting better at double entendres, as opposed to the set speeches full of Renaissance Christian Humanist beliefs. Richard can now see that appearance and reality are not the same.
Facial expression is just a reflection of the sorrow that is inside. Grief is inside, and external manifestations of griefs are not the same thing. Hamlet had not undertood this yet by the first act when he says, "Seems, madam, nay it is!" Bolingbroke is good at outward show being different from inward feeling (like kneeling before Richard when he knows he has won). Richard is realizes this. He is now revealing the moral hypocrisy of Bolingbroke.