"For now hath time made me his numbering clock: My thoughts are minutes, and with sighs they jar Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch, Whereto my finger, like a dial's point, Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears."

Richard acknowledges that he has not kept to the true time. He repents his idleness. He once again lapses into self-pity, as in Acts III and IV, with his "sighs and tears and groans." His thoughts revert to Bolingbroke, and he orders the music to be stopped. He suddenly blesses the musician because he thinks he is playing music out of love for Richard.

Richard's meeting with the groom serves to contrast his present self with his former glory as the king. His conversation with the stable groom reveals humility, which is new to his character. This shows that there is some degree of regeneration of his character. He has shown a remarkable degree of introspection in his soliloquy and has finally arrived at a knowledge of the self.

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