Act one of Richard the Second is the opening scene to a whole play of characters who's actions contradict their words. We are submerged into the setting of King Richard overseeing a court by the request of both his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke and a Thomas Mowbray in all his grandeur. The conflict is that both Mowbray and Bolingbroke consider each other traitors but Bolingbroke throws in the murder of the Duke of Gloucester to the accusations for good measure. The contradictions of words and actions begin when King Richard decides to let God settle things and calls for a duel, but instead of letting the duel happen he instead decides to banish both combatants. I think King Richard banished the two men because in those days it was believed God decided the outcome of battle and since he himself murdered the Duke of Gloucester which was what Mowbray was being accused for it would somehow come to light, I don't know how but these were the twisted thinking's of a God fearing king in the 1500's and I feel like no one in our day and age could fathom what was going through his mind. Another contradiction is that King Richard banished Mowbray for longer than his cousin which may because of the blood link but I feel it is because King Richard knows of Mowbray's innocence in the Dukes murder and does not want it to get out. Then of course Bolingbroke who was introduced to us as a man claiming his allegiance to the king was til death and everyone else was a traitor comes back to take the kings place via treason.