Shakespeare and Film II Spring 2005
Richard
III : Study Guide
(I.i.1-41)
In Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom writes,
Shakespeare’s greatest originality in Richard III,
which redeems an otherwise cumbersome and overwritten drama, is not so much
Richard himself as it is the hero-villain’s startlingly intimate relationship
with the audience.”
Keep this in mind as you read Richard’s
soliloquies, starting with lines 1-41.
(I.ii)
Background: Near the end of 3 Henry VI, Richard and his brothers
(Clarence and Edward IV) personally stab Prince Edward, Anne’s husband.
Kenneth Branagh as Richard III in a stage production
1.
As
Anne and Richard argue over Richard’s request to share her bed, whom do you want
to win and why? If you want Anne to win because who in
their right mind would want Richard to succeed in wooing the widow of his
murder victim, you are certainly on moral high ground! However, if you want
Richard to win just to see if he can succeed in his devilish plot, that is just
fine in terms of theatricality too! Remember that the play invites us to join
Richard in a moral holiday.
(I.iii)
Background: Refer to the play’s family
tree. These courtiers squabble constantly. The political situation is tense,
and everyone is suspicious of everyone else. Note that several sarcastic
remarks are made about the fact that Queen Elizabeth and her brother, Lord
Rivers, are not of “gentle birth,”
i.e., not truly “noble.” Edward IV supposedly married Elizabeth because of her
good looks; she was not of aristocratic stock. The true blue-bloods see these
royal in-laws as commoners.
Margaret
has legitimate grievances: her husband,
King Henry VI, and her son, Prince Edward, were assassinated. However, her
hands are not clean either. In 3 Henry VI, she goes into battle as a
warrior. She taunts Richard’s father, then Duke of York, about the murder of
his young son Rutland (this would be Richard’s little brother) and gives York a
cloth stained with Rutland’s blood to wipe away his tears of grief. Then she
places a paper crown on his head to mock his right to kingship. Finally, she
personally helps stab him and instructs for his head to be cut off and hung up
for public view.
Mary Sue Carroll as Queen Margaret in Richmond’s Encore! Theatre
Company
Here
is what she said in the prequel to Richard III: (She is speaking to the
Duke of York, Richard’s father, and to Edward IV and Clarence)
Queen Margaret:
Brave warriors, Clifford and Northumberland,
Come,
make him stand upon this molehill here . . .
What!
was it you that would be England's king?
Was't
you that revell'd in our parliament,
And made
a preachment of your high descent?
Where
are your mess of sons to back you now?
The
wanton Edward, and the lusty George?
And where's that valiant crook-back prodigy,
Dicky your boy, that with his grumbling voice
Was wont
to cheer his dad in mutinies?
Or, with
the rest, where is your darling Rutland?
Look, York: I stain'd this napkin with the blood
That valiant Clifford, with his rapier's point,
Made issue from the bosom of the boy;
And if thine eyes can water for his death,
I
give thee this to dry thy cheeks withal.
Alas
poor York! but that I hate thee deadly,
I should
lament thy miserable state.
I
prithee, grieve, to make me merry, York.
What,
hath thy fiery heart so parch'd thine entrails
That not
a tear can fall for Rutland's death?
Why art
thou patient, man? thou shouldst be mad. . .
York
cannot speak, unless he wear a crown.
A
crown for York! and, lords, bow low to him:
Hold you his hands, whilst I do set it on.
[ Putting a paper crown on his head]
Ay, marry, sir, now looks he like a king!
. . .
Off with
the crown, and with the crown his head;
And,
whilst we breathe, take time to do him dead.
And
here's to right our gentle-hearted king.
3 Henry VI, I.iv.66-108
(I.iv)
Reminder:
Dukes are often referred to by their holding. For example, as Clarence
relates his dream, remember that Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is simply called
“Gloucester.” Recall that Clarence is actually George, Duke of Clarence.
Their late father, the Duke of York, is often called “York.” Later, when the
young Duke of York appears (unfortunately another character named Richard), he
will be called “York.”
Background: Clarence’s guilty conscience is caused by the
fact that he changed sides in the York v. Lancaster feud. He turned against his
brother Edward IV to support his father-in-law, Warwick, then changed back
again.
2.
The
assassins thought they had no conscience, but found they did. Keep track of the
conscience of various characters on the attached worksheet-- How Low Can You
Go?
(III.iv) Richard’s decision to have Hastings
executed rests on very flimsy reasons.
You may not even catch Richard’s logic. He uses his deformity as
evidence that he is the victim of witchcraft and accuses Margaret and Mistress
Shore of being the witches. As soon as Hastings says “IF” the women have done
this, Richard pounces, using that hesitation as proof of his wish to protect
his mistress.
(III.v)
3.
Who
does Richard accuse of adultery when he insinuates that Edward IV was a not the
son of the king? The Duchess of York, his own mother!
(IV.ii)
4.
Why
does Buckingham suddenly start asking Richard to keep his promise about the
earldom?
Buckingham has helped Richard get to the crown in exchange for
promises of property, but recently Richard asked Buckingham to do something he
could not agree to: consent to have the young princes murdered lest they prove
a threat to Richard’s security on the throne. Buckingham wants out of Richard’s
service now, but not before he gets his promised reward.
(IV.iv)
Bloom also writes,
From Juliet on, Shakespeare was to surpass all
precursors, from the Bible to Chaucer, in the representation of women, but no
one could surmise that on the basis of Richard III.
Annette Bening as Queen Elizabeth and Kate Steavenson-Payne as Princess
Elizabeth in Loncraine’s Richard
III
The women of the play do not
seem to have much personality. But, in a way, they play an important role. As
explained by Nina Levine,
Without validating the particulars of Richard's
accusations, the play may indeed lend a certain authority to his misogyny by
presenting the women not simply as victims but as morally culpable as well.
From the compliant Lady Anne to the murderous Margaret and the inscrutable
Elizabeth, the women of Richard III are, at best, highly ambivalent figures who
slide with unsettling ease between opposing moral stereotypes, between victim
and aggressor, nurturer and murderer.
Nina
S. Levine. "Accursed womb, the bed of death": Women and the
Succession in Richard III.”
Shakespearean Criticism, Vol. 39
5.
Does
your heart go out to these women, or do you find their behavior too
“unsettling”? Your opinion is valid, but explain how you arrive at it.
Most readers feel pity but also impatience at the weakness of a woman like Anne and the infighting of old Queen Margaret and Queen Elizabeth. Anne falls for Richard’s flattery even though he has killed her father-in-law and husband. Margaret has blood on her hands from the murder of the Duke of York, but she dishes out curses to almost everyone in the play for their part in killing her husband and son. She shows no remorse for the death of the young princes, gloating that Elizabeth can now feel a mother’s grief too.
Note
Richard’s confusion while giving orders.
6.
What
is happening to him?
Richard is not thinking clearly any more. He is quick-tempered and paranoid. He orders Catesby to “fly to the Duke” without explaining why. When Catesby awaits instructions, Richard calls him “dull, unmindful villain” and asks him what he’s waiting for. He then forgets that he told Radcliffe to go to Salisbury, and strikes a messenger for bringing bad news, etc. He probably recalls Queen Margaret’s curse in 1.3. that he would be “friends of traitors and betrayed by friends.” Having seen her other curses come true, perhaps Richard is worried that he can trust no one and that his end is in sight.
Q
Al Pacino in Looking for
Richard
How Low Can You Go?
How do each of these characters at some point or another (some multiple times) behave in such a way as to violate their conscience or better judgment? Do they ever draw the line?
Anne
In just one scene, Anne goes from
mourning her father-in-law’s and husband’s death at Richard’s hand to letting
him put a ring on her finger. Although she curses any woman who would agree to
become his wife, she herself becomes that woman. Apparently his flattery of her
beauty has gone to her head. Perhaps there are extenuating circumstances, but
it looks like moral weakness and vanity. Later as Richard’s queen, she regrets
that she fell for his lies and wishes she were dead. She gets her wish.
Assassins of Clarence
Murderer #2 has second thoughts and worries about Judgment Day when their crime will be punished. He washes his hand of the deed. Murderer #1 uses the thought of a promised reward to override his conscience and goes ahead and kills Clarence.
Hastings, Lord Chamberlain (We saw him in I.i being released from the tower.)
Hastings promises to take vengeance
on the people who put him in prison (he assumes it is Elizabeth’s brother and
sons) and rejoices when he hears they are about to be executed. When Catesby
sounds Hastings out to see if he will support Richard’s claim to the throne
over that of the young princes, Hastings says he’d rather have his own “crown” (head)
cut from his shoulders than see Richard crowned. This statement of conscientious
loyalty to the heirs of Edward IV is straightway punished by Richard. When he
learns that he himself will be executed, he regrets that he gloated over the
death of his enemies.
Buckingham (He needs extra space!)
Buckingham has been Richard’s
right-hand man in all his plots. He betrayed King Edward’s loyalty by swearing
fake reconciliation to the Woodvilles, Elizabeth’s kin. He helped plot the
deaths of Rivers and Grey. He argues that the young Prince Edward should ride
with light guard (“little train”), pressures the Cardinal into removing the
Prince of York from “sanctuary” with his mother, both actions putting the boys
in a vulnerable position. He stages an elaborate show to convince the Mayor and
citizens that Hastings was a traitor, that the princes are illegitimate, and
that Richard should be king. Yet when Richard asks Buckingham’s consent to kill
the princes in the tower, Buckingham draws the line and asks for time to
consider. Thus, he has some conscience, but not much. Next we see of him, he is
asking for his promised earldoms, meaning he wants to cash in his winnings and
leave the game.
Tyrrel
He cheerfully agrees to murder the
young princes (although he gets Dighton and Forrest to actually do it). When he
describes the “tyrannous and bloody act” in a soliloquy, he may be genuinely
moved by the death of the innocents, but he does not reveal any remorse to
Richard. If he has a conscience, he never draws the line in what he will agree
to do. However, his soliloquy of pity could be played as sarcasm, making him
more devilish than even Richard. Director’s choice.
Tyrrel’s henchmen, Dighton and Forrest
We do not hear them speak directly,
but according to Tyrrel, they were moved by the gentleness of the “babes” and
the presence of a prayer book on their bed, but killed them anyway. They wept
afterward “with conscience and remorse.”
Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth is accused of various
things, but we never see her do anything wrong. We learn from Richard that Elizabeth
and her former husband, Grey, supported the House of Lancaster prior to its
fall at the battle of St. Albans. Now that she is Edward IV’s wife, it looks
like she switched loyalty for personal gain. Richard and Margaret never let
Elizabeth forget that she was essentially Edward’s mistress whom he decided to
marry and elevate to the throne even through she was not of sufficient
nobility. Nevertheless, she swears she did nothing wrong and especially did not
encourage Edward to have Clarence sent to the tower. Later she seems genuinely
sympathetic with Anne’s plight as Richard’s unfortunate wife. When, following
the murder of her family, she appears to consent to Richard’s request to woo
her daughter, we learn later that she has actually contracted a marriage
between the girl and Richmond.