Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 128 views

    Why Richard III, From "Richard III" by William Shakespeare, Is Not So Evil?

    Uploaded by

    Anastasia Diana Miulescu
    1) William Shakespeare's character Richard III from the play of the same name is a more complex villain than initially perceived. While he declares himself determined to be a villain, his words can also be interpreted as wanting to prove himself one in response to his physical deformity making him an outsider. 2) Richard is shown to be self-aware and self-critical, mocking his own deformities and openly admitting to his corrupt character. However, he also expresses admiration for virtue and seems disappointed that he cannot attain it himself due to living in a corrupt world. 3) In his final moments, Richard faces his death bravely, fighting to the end despite his defeat. Shakespeare presents a more tragic figure than

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Why Richard III, From "Richard III" by William Shakespeare, Is Not So Evil?

    Uploaded by

    Anastasia Diana Miulescu
    128 views4 pages
    1) William Shakespeare's character Richard III from the play of the same name is a more complex villain than initially perceived. While he declares himself determined to be a villain, his words can also be interpreted as wanting to prove himself one in response to his physical deformity making him an outsider. 2) Richard is shown to be self-aware and self-critical, mocking his own deformities and openly admitting to his corrupt character. However, he also expresses admiration for virtue and seems disappointed that he cannot attain it himself due to living in a corrupt world. 3) In his final moments, Richard faces his death bravely, fighting to the end despite his defeat. Shakespeare presents a more tragic figure than

    Original Description:

    rc

    Original Title

    richard 3

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    RTF, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    1) William Shakespeare's character Richard III from the play of the same name is a more complex villain than initially perceived. While he declares himself determined to be a villain, his words can also be interpreted as wanting to prove himself one in response to his physical deformity making him an outsider. 2) Richard is shown to be self-aware and self-critical, mocking his own deformities and openly admitting to his corrupt character. However, he also expresses admiration for virtue and seems disappointed that he cannot attain it himself due to living in a corrupt world. 3) In his final moments, Richard faces his death bravely, fighting to the end despite his defeat. Shakespeare presents a more tragic figure than

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as rtf, pdf, or txt
    128 views4 pages

    Why Richard III, From "Richard III" by William Shakespeare, Is Not So Evil?

    Uploaded by

    Anastasia Diana Miulescu
    1) William Shakespeare's character Richard III from the play of the same name is a more complex villain than initially perceived. While he declares himself determined to be a villain, his words can also be interpreted as wanting to prove himself one in response to his physical deformity making him an outsider. 2) Richard is shown to be self-aware and self-critical, mocking his own deformities and openly admitting to his corrupt character. However, he also expresses admiration for virtue and seems disappointed that he cannot attain it himself due to living in a corrupt world. 3) In his final moments, Richard faces his death bravely, fighting to the end despite his defeat. Shakespeare presents a more tragic figure than

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as rtf, pdf, or txt
    of 4
    At a glance
    Powered by AI
    Richard III is portrayed as a complex character who is both villainous but also expresses admiration for virtue and feels guilt for his actions.

    Richard is portrayed as not entirely ruthless and feels disgust for his own actions at times. He is also haunted by his conscience and the ghosts of those he killed.

    Richard mocks and critiques himself for his deformities. He also criticizes Lady Anne for being seduced by him and feels disappointment in people's gullibility.

    Why Richard III, from "Richard III" by William

    Shakespeare, is not so evil?

    One of the first signs that Richard is not going to be a typical villain is
    found in his famous opening monologue ("Now is the winter of our
    discontent..."). The speech can be is a clear declaration of villainy, but if we
    look more closely at what Shakespeare has Richard say becomes more
    complex. The key line is the one in which Richard says that he is
    “determined to prove a villain”. And here are two paths: this statement could
    be read as Richard saying that he will provide “proof” of his native villainy
    and it could also be read indicating his wish to become or make himself a
    villain, suggesting that his villainy is not native. At the same time Richard’s
    suggests a motive for his villainy, implying that it is a response to his
    society’s marginalisation of him because of his deformity. This might be an
    excuse, but it could also be a way of suggesting that evil is made as well as
    born.
    The same monologue also exemplifies that Richard shows
    throughout the play his capacity for self-critique. He sadly describes himself
    as "I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion,/Cheated of feature by
    dissembling Nature,/Deformed, unfinished sent before my time." He mocks
    himself: "That dogs bark at me as I halt by them". He speaks in the same
    way about his ugly body several times in the play. Richard is also honest
    about his corrupted character. When he first reveals his plot against
    Clarence, he is contrasting his character with the character of his brother, the
    king: " And if King Edward be as true and just/As I am subtle, false, and
    treacherous".
    Richard intentionally (and even sometimes joyfully) acts
    immorally, but he is not rejecting the existence of a divinity that sanctions.
    He sometimes is longing for virtue and goodness in a world that is as
    corrupt as himself. We see this very clear in the scene with Lady Anne.
    Richard’s seduction of Lady Anne is one of the play's most memorable
    scene. He succeeds in winning the widow of the prince he has killed while
    she mourns over the dead body of the father-in-law he has also murdered.
    When Lady Anne leaves the stage, Richard’s monologue reveals that he is
    impressed and amused by his success as a seducer. Even more striking is
    what he says about her dead husband, Edward, the prince he has murdered:
    "Hath she forgot already that brave prince,
    Edward her lord, whom I some three months since
    Stabbed in my angry mood at Tewkesbury?
    A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,
    Framed in the prodigality of nature
    Young, valiant, wide, and no doubt right royal,
    The spacious world cannot again afford—
    And will she yet abase her eyes on me,
    That cropped the golden prime of this sweet prince
    And made her widow to a woeful bed?
    On me, whose all not equals Edward’s moiety?
    On me, that halts and am misshapen thus?"

    Here we find Richard presenting Edward as an example of virtue and a man


    deserving love and admiration. This is completely in disagreement with his
    own self-description. At such a moment, Shakespeare’s Richard appears to
    be a frustrated, a man who chooses evil because he is not allowed to be
    virtuous because the world is not virtuous.
    We can find proofs that Richard feels disgust for his own
    actions and their success where he persuades people to believe his lies.
    Repeatedly, Richard mocks and critiques those who allow themselves to be
    persuaded by him. This is partly arrogance, but it also seems to be about
    disappointment with people and a world in which his plans succeed. He
    mocks "simple plain Clarence" for being killed by his false acting of love
    and loyalty. He mocks when he claims that Queen Elizabeth is responsible
    for Clarence’s situation, revealing at the same time his "naked villainy" with
    "odd old ends, stol’n forth of Holy Writ" . Similarly, he criticises Lady Anne
    for being seduced by him. In the scene with Lady Anne, Richard seems
    disappointed by his success and disapproving of the woman who could be
    seduced by him, criticising her for being unstable (even though this is what
    he was persuading her to be).
    Shakespeare’s Richard is not the entirely ruthless and hard-
    hearted. That is suggested by his attitude to his critics. Although Richard is
    frequently arrogant with his opponents and their condemnations of his
    actions, he is not entirely immune to their criticism. It appears to touch him
    at points. We see this most strikingly in Act 4, scene 4. This is the scene in
    which Richard is confronted by his mother, the Duchess of York, Queen
    Elizabeth and Queen Margaret on his way to prepare for battle with
    Richmond. The women are keen to speak to him and (as the audience
    knows) to curse him for his crimes against them and their loved ones.
    Richard’s first response is to say that he will not listen to the women and he
    moves to silence them , calling for a "flourish" of trumpets to drown out the
    "tell-tale women". But Richard tells that he will listen if they are "patient"
    and will "entreat" him "fair". When his mother starts to talk he initially
    interrupts her, then he choose to stop and listen to her, even though he
    doesn't need to do so . He also shows a painful awareness that he is
    "disgracious" in his mother’s eyes. The Duchess of York proceeds to curse
    him , saying that "Bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end/ Shame serves thy
    life, and doth thy death attend". Richard’s mother cursing him in this way is
    shocking. For once he doesn't respond. Temporarily, he appears to have been
    silenced. Even more, Richard choose to expose himself to this cursing, as if
    he doesn't wish to avoid criticism and believes he deserves such
    condemnation and the bloody end which the Duchess predicts for him.
    The Duchess’ words (and the words of his other critics) have
    touched him appears to be confirmed when Richard finds himself haunted by
    his victims. The dream scene presents the return of Richard’s sins to haunt
    him, as embodied by the ghosts of those he killed. His reaction to their
    reminder of what he has done that is most striking. Richard may have started
    the play determined to "prove a villain" and ready to acclaim those who are
    able to put aside pity and conscience (like the murderers he hires to kill
    Clarence). He discovers too late that he can't avoid his own conscience or
    morality so easily. Richard may condemn "coward conscience" but there is
    no escape for the fact that in this scene he is haunted by a conscience. It is
    here that we see Richard at his most deeply divided as he disputes with
    himself about the morality of his life. Again, this includes being his most
    open and honest critic, describing himself as a "villain" and a "murderer"
    guilty of "hateful deeds" . Richard contemplates self-punishment both for
    what he has done to others and for what he has done to himself:

    "Then fly! What, from myself? Great reason. Why?


    Lest I revenge. Myself upon myself?
    Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good
    That I myself have done unto myself?
    O no, alas, I rather hate myself
    For hateful deeds committed by myself"

    Richard may suggest that he deserves no pity and does not feel it for himself
    . It is hard for an audience not to feel some sympathy for him at this
    moment, even though he brought thin pain on himself, not realising the true
    cost of his evil actions.
    The visitation of the ghosts and his conscience debate with
    himself leave Richard knowing that his end is probably near. The way that
    he faces this imminent end is again, interesting. He does not panic or
    become self-pity. On the contrary, Richard goes on to face his death bravely.
    Although Richard may end up dismissed by Richmond as a "bloody dog"
    following his defeat. Richard’s final moments on stage is more surprising.
    As well as making a powerful leader’s speech to his men, Richard goes on to
    lead by example, Catesby reporting : "The King enacts more wonders than a
    man, / Daring an opposite to every danger" .When we eventually see
    Richard he is in a desperate situation. He is unhorsed but keen to find and
    fight Richmond. Like Macbeth, Richard falls and his sins of power and
    ambition is punished with an inglorious death, as predicted by other
    characters. But, in his final moments Shakespeare presents Richard as brave
    and, in his own, way, heroic.
    Shakespeare’s Richard is a self-confessed villain, but he is far
    from a typical villain and a more complex character than is often perceived,
    especially ethically. Shakespeare’s Richard does not deny the existence or
    superiority of virtue. On the contrary, even though he chooses its opposite,
    he, sometimes, expresses admiration for goodness. Like Shakespeare’s later
    tragic heroes, Richard is flawed but he also possesses tragic stature in the
    face of his fall which is presumably why the play, when first published was
    entitled, The Tragedy of King Richard the third (1597), rather than simply a
    history of the king.

    You might also like