Q1. In any screen adaptation of Richard III of your choice, discuss the staging of Richard and Richmond's dream sequence.
Q2. Richard III is a play about the power of persuasion. Discuss.
Q3. Does our (playreaders/playgoers) connection with the titular character strengthen or lessen as the play evolves? How does Shakespeare create this effect?
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Question 2
ReplyDeleteRichard III is a play about two kinds of persuasion: persuasion of others and persuasion of self.
The first kind is obvious, as the audience watches Richard manipulate everyone around him. His powers of persuasion are unreal. Flaws and gaps frequently riddle his arguments, but such is his charisma and ability to appeal to people's selfish tendencies that he can convince them to join him. Richard is and excellent reader of people; he can see what they want and what they fear. In a court as full of intrigue and infighting as this one, that is an invaluable talent. Over and over, we see his amazing abilities, as he seduces Anne, orders the murder of children, and wins followers to his side.
Persuasion of the self-- a polite term for self-delusion, in many cases--is also very much repsent in the play. It is seen in the thugs sent to kill Richard's brother, as they briefly wrangle with their consciences. Hastings persuades himself of his safety even as he walks into a death trap. And ultimately, the curses placed upon the court by the former Queen are methods of persuasion, for they act as self-fulfilling prophecies that direct the actions of Richard and others in a trope descended from Oedipus.
3. Our connection to Richard III is what drives this play. He acts as our guide and narrator within the play, as well as the central character. He pulls us along with him on his dizzying rise to power and then, bit by bit, our connection with Richard is eroded as his own career comes to an end.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare creates our connection with Richard from the very first scene. Immediately, we are spoken to directly by Richard; he sets the scene and paints himself as villain. He is self-aware, an outsider, knowing his own role and hinting at an element of meta-theatricality within the play. His soliloquies throughout the first act mark him out as different from the other characters: he openly communicates with us, acting almost like a commentator on events. This is most evident in act one, scene two, when Richard sets out to woo Lady Anne. In the preceding scene he tells us of his plot to marry her, and then we are invited to watch his attempt. After Lady Anne leaves, Richard turns back to the audience and begs us to marvel at his feat. A connection is made.
This connection continues throughout the next two acts, but it is slowly lessened as the soliloquies become shorter and less engaging. Once Richard has reached the pinnacle of his success, they stop almost altogether. The connection is severed in the final act, after the visitation of the ghosts (V. iii). Richard’s long soliloquy here lacks the self-awareness of his earlier speeches. He is confused; he does not recognise the audience at all. It is not to us he speaks, but to another part of himself, his conscience perhaps. The audience feels deluded: has he been talking to himself all along, and we merely believed he spoke to us? Was his apparent self-awareness, the seeming ‘outsider’ quality, a hint of a deeper psychological problem in the root of his character? Whatever the case, Richard has become lost in the narrative, no longer a commentator for the audience, but instead a victim of destiny and history.
Q3.From the very beginning of Richard III, the audience is asked to conspire with Richard in his quest for the throne. The play opens with a monologue, ensuring that Richard is the first character to engage our sympathies. We are immediately presented with his reasoning and internal monologue, a depth of character and motivation that is not supplied by any other character in the play. While the power of this first impression may be undermined when considering the play as a final episode in a series, Richard’s character repeatedly demands complicity of the audience and, because of his elegant and triumphant successes in the first half of the play, he impresses as well as engages us.
ReplyDeleteAs the play progresses, though, the audience is increasingly distanced from Richard. After he is crowned king, he no longer endeavors to hide his ambition, cruelty and violence from the other characters. At the start of the play, Richard’s playful monologues encourage the audience to take his part and watch his dramatic cruelty as a form of entertainment. By the end, though, he has almost wholly abandoned these meta-theatrical interludes. Without continually renewing the bond of complicity, we lose our connection to him. The increased realism that results from the reestablishment of the fourth wall makes Richard’s deeds seem increasingly horrible. Without the constant reminder that we are watching a play, we begin to accept the world of the characters unquestioningly, and in that world Richard is undoubtedly a villain.
Clancy Flynn, Group 3
Q3. From the very beginning of Shakespeare's Richard the Third, the audience has a connection with the titular character. Richard speaks to the audience directly, sharing his plans with us through soliloquys and asides. We become complicit in his wrongdoing, horrified by his nefarious plots, yet still intrigued to see how he will carry them out. We know that what he speaks of doing is immoral, but the divulgence of his secret plans flatters us into complacency and we wait with baited breath to see how he achieves these aims. Not only does Richard disarm and manipulate the characters on stage but his influence spread beyond the fourth wall of the play.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as the play progresses, the audience is pushed out of this connection with Richard. He no longer privileges us with information, removing us from the action, and putting us back in our place. This distancing happens towards the play's conclusion, as Richard's plots come to fruition and he is crowned king. He no longer addresses the audience directly, instead stating his plans openly. The audience is no further ahead of the action than the characters on stage, and as Richard's deeds become all the more tyrannous and cruel, the connection is lost. No more warned of the events than the victims, we begin to see his acts as they truly are, and by the play's dramatic conlusion are completely distanced from Richard.
Aoife Torpey, Group 3
The theme of persuasion is central to Richard III. Not only does Richard attempt to persuade his audience to see his point of view, but he manipulates those around him in order to succeed in his bid for the throne. The power of language is an important theme in the play, as Richard desperately tries to convince the characters around him of his integrity and allows the audience a to fully engage with the inner workings of his mind through his aside speeches. His power over other characters is immense. In I.II, he uses clever language to persuade Lady Anne to court him. This is a perfect example of Richard’s incredible presence, as Lady Anne was cursing him at the beginning of the play. As Caoimhe argues above, this scene also demonstrates Shakespere’s ability to use Richard’s cunning and persuasion to set up a powerful connection between audience and character. As an audience, we can only watch as Richard carries through with his plans. Richard’s asides are used to persuade the audience of Richard’s plans. Richard’s power of persuasion is used throughout the play, as he manipulates those around him to achieve his aims, stopping at nothing to influence the other characters. Despite being manipulated the characters still play a part in bringing about their own downfall, for example Lady Anne. This however only invites the audience to realise the evil of Richard’s character and the clever techniques he has employed to satisfy his own interests.
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