A Study of the Dramatic Roles of Women in Richard III Essay

the play draws its readers to identify with Richard and thereby to participate in a

Richard, the main character of the Shakespeare’s play, Richard III is portrayed as socially destructive and politically over-ambitious. His destructive potential is depicted by the way he relates with the other protagonists in the play and also by what he confesses as his intentions.

What are the functions of the three female characters in Richard iii? How do they shape the plot by their interactions with Richard?

Shakespeare’s plays were grouped into three categories: comedies, tragedies and histories. The histories were those plays based on the lives of English kings. Shakespeare was one of the first writers to write about English history. According to Garber, “before Shakespeare’s time there were few history plays such written in England--- England history was told in verse and prose chronicles (239)”. It’s considered that Richard II is one of the early “historical plays”. The play became so iconic that even Queen Elizabeth said that she was “Richard the second, know ye not that”. Richard II tells the story about a king’s downfall.

A main aspect of Richard’s, Duke of Gloucester, personality is his hatred of women, possibly due to most woman within Richard III holding more knowledge than the men, in regards to Richard’s deceiving nature. The only woman who is outsmarted by Richard is Lady Anne.

In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare, the author, creates female characters that occupy very different roles than in his other plays. In this play, Hamlet plays opposite two women who are used by the men around them in order to further their own interests. One woman is named Ophelia. In many of Shakespeare’s other plays, he creates women that are very strong and play a very real role in the life of the protagonist. In Hamlet, however, Ophelia occupies a very different role-she exemplifies a pawn of the men around her. She is used not only by her father and his associate the King, but also by her supposed lover, Hamlet. This is a very different role for a woman in a Shakespearian play. Also, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude,

Shakespeare’s Richard III, is filled with desires and determination to achieve and fulfill ambition. Shakespeare uses the power of language to explicate Richard’s manipulative ways to fulfill his desires of becoming king, thus doing so by bringing darkness to the content world of others. According to Anderson’s article The Death of a Mind: Study of Shakespeare’s Richard III Richard’s state of mind is oriented around imposing “dark shadows over the positive dispositions of the others’ lives” (Anderson 701); he works at spreading destruction and grievance to those around him. Throughout the play Richard is in his own state of mind, with his main focus on the crown. Act I scene ii, illustrates Richard’s power and manipulative ways through language in order to gain advantage and gain a step forward in achieving the crown. The dialogue between Richard and Lady Anne at King Henry’s funeral exemplifies his manipulation when he uses charming and charismatic words to obtain her attention. Throughout this essay I will agree with Anderson’s point that Richard’s manipulative ploy is a means of fulfilling his ambition. This essay will explicate how Richard manipulates and uses the power of language to exemplify what his deranged state of mind can do to unsuspecting and naive minds. Lady Anne, her character at the beginning of the scene is distressed and angered, however as the scene progresses, Richard’s dialogue with Lady Anne begins to illustrate her naive mind and weak character

The Role of Women in Hamlet in William Shakespeare's Play Gertrude and Ophelia, the only two women in Hamlet, reflect the general status of women in Elizabethan Times. Women were suppressed by the males in their lives (brothers, fathers, and partners) and were always inferior. Ophelia and Gertrude have little or no power due to restricted legal, social and economic rights that were found in Elizabethan society. The male characters in Hamlet reflect this sexist view point, represented by Hamlet’s judgement that “frailty, thy name is woman”. This view was not uncommon in Shakespeare’s time and heavily influenced Shakespeare to present women the way he does in Hamlet.

A deeper understanding of ambition and identity emerges from pursuing the connections between King Richard III and Looking for Richard.

In Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Richard the Third, the historical context of the play is dominated by male figures. As a result, women are relegated to an inferior role. However, they achieve verbal power through their own discourse of religion and superstition. In the opening speech of Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 1-30 Lady Anne orients the reader to the crucial political context of the play and the metaphysical issues contained within it (Greenblatt, 509). Lady Anne curses her foes, using strong language to indicate her authority. She speaks in blank verse, by which she utilizes imagery to emphasize her emotions and reinforce her pleas. Her speech clearly illustrates the distinction between the

The most prominent woman figure in this play is Linda, but the male characters in this play also give us insight into women’s roles and help feed the feminist analyses

land in the north of England after both the Earl and Anne died. He was

Richard Loncraine’s Richard III and Roman Polanski’s Macbeth are two Shakespeare adaptations that skillfully demonstrate each titular character’s thirst for power and their inevitable downfall. Both Richard III and Macbeth share similar quests for power as they attempt to take over the throne, and though their motivation and the level of villainy each man holds are different, they both fall from power and are murdered. Though the films share many common themes and present them through similar motifs, one of the most fascinating things to note between Richard III and Macbeth is how the lead women of the plays are portrayed on screen. The women of these films – particularly Lady Anne and Lady Macbeth – are treated by the directors as little more than objects for Richard III and Macbeth’s political gain, leading the audience

How does Shakespeare’s portrayal of Ophelia, Queen Gertrude, and the reactions of male characters to these women reveal larger social attitudes to women in Shakespeare’s time. Shakespeare’s work is still influential today as evidenced by the fact that Disney released an adaptation of Hamlet called “The Lion King”, and the theatrical adaptation has made $6.2 billion in ticket sales. Within Shakespeare’s plays, he often indirectly comments on the social flaws of his society. In the play Hamlet, he provides an important portrayal of the negative treatment of women in the age of Elizabethan society by way of revealing the generalization of women, inequality between men and women, and the stereotyping of women as either angelic or evil seductress.

A captivating element in the play Richard III, are the women. On one hand - they can be judged as vulnerable and weak by the audience because they establish their livelihood on the power of the men. Having said that the prophetic curses they use to manipulate situations in their own specific way, create a sense of power they do have over the misogynistic men. In a sense, women can be seen to be the assets of the men who be wed with them, nevertheless the women advance themselves with absolute emotive dominance. The women bear the spiritual strength behind the political activities of the play.