The Short Lived Success of Richard III Essay

Moreover, Richard’s multifaceted nature in his determination to attain power is further accentuated through the striking metaphor “And thus I clothe my naked villainy …And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.”, which Shakespeare employs to represent Richard as an embodiment of absolute evil and amorality. Hence, the Shakespearean audience becomes aware of the destruction of Richard’s moral compass as he sacrifices the value of honesty in his ambitious plan to gain power and engage in sacrilegious acts to create his own fate. Comparatively, Pacino reshapes the downfall of Richard as a result of his ambition for power to reflect the secular perspective of free will and aspiration. As such, Pacino’s reimagining of the opening soliloquy with a mid shot of Pacino leaning over the sick King Edward effectively encapsulates the control Richard possesses, which allows him to deceive the king and maneuver his way

These traits that Richard displayed were not befitting to a king and a man who was suppose to lead. Rather than look out for the

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.

William Shakespeare’s Richard III is a historical play that focuses on one of his most famous and complex villainous characters. Richard III or The Duke of Gloucester, who eventually becomes king, is ambitious, bitter, ugly and deformed. He manipulates and murders his way to the throne and sets the tone for the whole play with his very first speech, which is the opening of the play.

This derives from the play as a recount of historical events with a known outcome and a medium for propaganda in support of the monarchy, an avid determinist. Nevertheless, the aforementioned tension is prevalent throughout and epitomised by the paradoxical pun ‘I am determined to prove a villain’. Uttered with a tone of poise and self-assuredness, the term ‘determined’ implies a conscious statement of purpose and a preordained villainy. Thus Richard is aligned with the stock character of the Vice, an instrument of predestination, and the innovative Machiavel, an advocator of humanism. Despite this, the ultimate decline of Richard is consequential of the reign of determinism. The directly antithetic correctio ‘I am a villain. Yet I lie, I am not’ yields an implicit self-doubt and acknowledgment of an inability to fulfil his humanist purpose. Providentialism thus displays precedence over self-determination. This is in direct contrast to Pacino’s docudrama, composed for a secular modern American audience disengaged with traditional notions of determinism. A greatly diminished and altered portrayal of Margaret, the primary instrument of determinism in the play, is expressive of this. Pacino devalues her curses by reducing her to a ‘sort of ghost of the past’. A frenzied montage of informative discourse and the activity of the play complete with

Ambition is an earnest desire for achievement. Both texts are self reflexive and emphasise Richard’s obsessive ambition, desire and longing for the throne. Each Richard strives towards capturing the throne regardless of consequences and bloodshed. Richard is depicted in both texts as an ambitious character who strives to gain power and independence through deception and self confessed villainy. ‘Since I cannot prove a lover. . . I am determined to prove a villain’ This obsession which drives Richard to commit horrific evils to gain and then protect his claim to the throne. His ambition, power and evil blinds him and inevitably is responsible for his downfall in both of the texts. A connection is formed between Looking for Richard and King Richard III in the final scenes Al Pacino’s interpretation and ‘Hollywood’ background influences an ending which can be interpreted as portraying Richmond as a coward. Elizabethan audiences

* Lady Anne scene – Richard turns from the monstrous Machiavellian character we see throughout most of the play, into a romantic wooer. He uses rhetorical language such as pathos to connect with her emotions which assists him in essentially ‘capturing’ Lady Anne. The fact that Richard had just killed her husband King Edward, with her still being with his coffin just makes Richard seem even more powerful as he still manages to pull Lady Anne into marrying him. Although in this scene Lady Anne proves to hold the knowledge of language too as there is constant stichomythia between the two characters through most of the scene but the line which best shows this is when Richard says “Bid me kill myself. I will do it.” And

Richard’s aspiration for power caused him to sacrifice his morals and loyalties in order to gain the throne of England. Shakespeare refers to the political instability of England, which is evident through the War of the Roses between the Yorks and Lancastrians fighting for the right to rule. In order to educate and entertain the audience of the instability of politics, Shakespeare poses Richard as a caricature of the Vice who is willing to do anything to get what he wants. As a result, the plans Richard executed were unethical, but done with pride and cunningness. Additionally, his physically crippled figure that was, “so lamely and unfashionable, that dogs bark at me as I halt by them,” reflects the deformity and corruption of his soul. The constant fauna imagery of Richard as the boar reflected his greedy nature and emphasises that he has lost his sense of humanity.

Richard is a victim of bullying throughout the play, and this causes him to do harmful things to others. His deformity is something that he is very insecure about, and when characters in the play insult him, it leads to him getting revenge on them. Anne, when Richard is talking to her as a potential love interest, insults him, “Blush, blush, thou lump of deformity” (1.2.58). As Richard is trying to be charming, Anne strikes his insecurity, which upsets him, and causes him to hurt her later. Queen Margaret calls Richard names as well, “Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog” (1.3.228). This is especially hurtful to Richard, because he is trying to be especially desirable to win over her daughter, yet he is still called rude names. Later in the play, Richard implies that he is going to kill Anne, “Come hither; Catesby. Rumor it abroad / That Anne my wife is very grievous sick; / I will take order for keeping close”(4.2.50-52). This is awfully suspicious and implying that he is going to kill her, which is his revenge for her calling him a lump of deformity, as well as allowing him to proceed in his plans to take the throne. He is insecure about the insults, but he still tries his best to be kind to the women in the play.

Shakespeare adapts these tenants to construct a power thirsty character. Consequently, while the London elite was introduced to these ideals, Shakespeare shaped the overall plot of the play to exemplify the discussed the power quest introduced by Machiavelli. This results in Richard’s actions that lead him to kill his brother and manipulate his family into getting the throne.

The retelling of history has always been influenced by the winning side in a battle, and Shakespeare’s foray into the life of Richard III is no exception. However, even though a story may be altered from the original, it still has merit both as a historical account and a lesson in life. Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of King Richard The Third is such an account of the drama, life, and eventual death of England’s former King Richard III. Shakespeare, as is his tendency, not only gives a detailed and dramatized account of the political workings of the 14th century, but also plays the ideas of power and fate in the world against each other.

A part of Richard II’s narcissistic personality creates his obsession of the royal title. It blinds Richard II of the reality of being a king. For example, Northumberland suggests that Richard II must read the accusations against him. However, King Richard II responds, “[His] eyes are full of tears, [He] cannot see; / And yet salt water blinds them not so much” (IV.1.244-245). King Richard II struggles to see the reality of his reign. He thinks that he can do no wrong because he is a king. He then realizes that he spends his reign through ignoring the consequences of committing crimes. His vision is blurry due to crying after facing a part of reality. He assumes that the world is centered around him, which detaches him from the real world. With his obsession of his title, he ends up viewing his people that followed him as betrayers. Having the position of power does not necessary mean that one has complete control of his or her reputation. Even if he is a king, does not mean that he can do what he pleases. A person in power can get in trouble if she or she does not have a reality check. Additionally, having obsession of one’s reputation causes an individual to suffer in the end. Furthermore, the obsession of Richard II causes him to have a difficult acceptance of giving up his life as a king.

Richard III’s ghosts are not nearly as present as the ghosts in Macbeth. They only show up once in a dream sequence, cementing them firmly as figments of Richard’s mind. It is telling then that the only time when ghosts do show up, they condone Richard III and hope for Richmond’s success. Specifically, even Richard’s closest allies have turned on him: “O in the battle think on Buckingham/And die in terror of thy guiltiness” (Shakespeare, Richard III 5.5.123-4). In other words, Buckingham- the man who was by Richard’s side up until the fourth act, where he suddenly gained a conscience- thinks Richard deserves to die for his tyrannical rule. What does it say when even your confidantes have turned on you? It certainly cements the idea that Richard’s rule was horrible and destructive, which really was not all that true. In fact, Richard supposedly had “solid administrative skills” but he was often portrayed “as the

In modern-day society, many individuals do not believe that supernatural or immaterial qualities could play such a tremendous role in everyday life. However, in early British times, the citizens considered it normal to see supernatural aspects holding significant importance. Although William Shakespeare was not entirely historically accurate when crafting his play Richard III, he attempted to maintain the root structure of this period. Shakespeare uses many immaterial qualities including curses, dreams, ghosts, and time to not only foreshadow a myriad of critical events but also to emphasize Richard's avarice.