Texts provide insight into the lifestyles of individuals from past and allow the modern audience to understand shifts in contexts and values through time. William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of King Richard III presents its audience with the values of the sixteenth century, whilst Al Pacino’s film Looking for Richard highlights the shift in context and creatively reshapes these values in order to make them more accessible to a twentieth century audience. Both Pacino and Shakespeare employ different mediums in order to attract the audience of their time. Both texts explore the idea of ambition overriding the values of integrity and honesty. They both utilised the ideology of an abolished hierarchy in order to gain the adoration of the common …show more content…
The Elizabethan era consisted of a strict class structure and people rarely moved up into a higher class. Nonetheless, Shakespeare elevated the status of the common people and characterised them as perceptive citizens who had the most accurate judgement of Richard’s character in his play Richard III. Shakespeare employs metonymy in “Oh full of danger is the Duke of Gloucester” in order to illustrate the lack of personal connection between Richard and the lower class population. Despite this detachment, the citizens still possessed more insight into Richard’s true character than those closest to him. Pacino utilises this concept of an equal society in his film Looking for Richard, however the shift in social structure forced him to adjust his methods. The twentieth century brought a less severe social hierarchy. Pacino counteracts this modification by equating the average person with the “elite”. Pacino creates a montage of interviews with street people, scholars and actors. His valuing of opinions from all levels of society creates a levelling. The “impromptu” interview with a seemingly homeless African-American man possesses diegetic sounds and intimate close-ups that allow the audience to connect to the film. This vibrant scene directly juxtaposes with the sterile interview with scholar Barbara Everett. The scene lacks the lively …show more content…
Despite the change in contexts, the values presented in Shakespeare’s play are wholly relevant to a twentieth century audience. The idea of ambition overriding the values of integrity and honesty, the struggle of the composer to attract a mainstream audience and the religious beliefs of the audience are all made evident in both texts. By comparing the two texts, the shift in context can be distinguished and the different representations of values are illustrated and an insight into the lifestyle of people past is
Shakespeare’s portrayal of power reflects the conflicting influences of Medieval Morality plays and Renaissance literature during the Tudor period, demonstrating that the text is a reflection of contextual beliefs. The Third Citizen’s submission to a monotheistic deity in the pathetic fallacy of “The water swell before a boisterous storm – but leave it all to God” qualifies the theological determinism of power due to the rise of Calvinism. Pacino embodies Richard’s desire for royalty in LFR through the emphasis on celebrity culture, as he is determined to film himself in close-up, which although emphasizes the importance of Pacino, leaves out the broader scene. Soliloquies are substituted with breaches in the fourth wall, and his metatheatrical aside to the audience “I love the silence… whatever I’m saying, I know Shakespeare said it”, subverts the cultural boundaries which, deter contemporary American actors in performing Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s breach of the iambic pentameter in “Chop off his head…And when I’m king” strengthens the Renaissance influence, as Richa...
Stewart, J.I.M. Character and Motive in Shakespeare: Some Recent Appraisals Examined. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1966.
The theme of unity transcends any ambiguity found in Henry's character or motives. This theme is evident in many areas of Henry V, but for the sake of this article, the importance of this theme is discussed between play and audience, and within Henry himself. This production of Henry V proposes that these two aspects be emphasized to show how Shakespeare's play has a message for modern theatergoers. The setting and age are left the same, as this adds to the validity of the play.
The content and construction of texts are inexorably influenced by the plethora of social, cultural, and historical factors relative to a composer’s context. Context thus becomes the principle medium for deciphering the complex and often didactic meanings within texts. Through the comparative study of Shakespeare’s historical tragedy King Richard III and Al Pacino’s postmodern docudrama Looking For Richard, both texts explore the various connections explored through the protagonist Richard with respective societal influence affecting their portrayal. Shakespeare’s text strongly conveys a sense of providentialism which was influential by the Tudor monarchy whilst Al Pacino thorough the implement of modern day media portrays these influences to a secular, postmodern audience.
William Shakespeare has become landmark in English literature. One must be familiar with the early days of English literature in order to comprehend the foundation of much of more modern literature’s basis. Shakespeare’s modern influence is still seen clearly in many ways. The success of Shakespeare’s works helped to set the example for the development of modern dramas and plays. He is also acknowledged for being one of the first writers to use any modern prose in his writings.
Henderson, Diana E. “A Shrew for the Times, Revisted.” Shakespeare the Movie II, Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV, and DVD. Eds. Burt, Richard and Boose, Lynda E. New York: Routledge, 2003. 120-139. Print.
Composers throughout various zeitgeists are linked by different representations of universal human concerns, and their texts simultaneously embody certain values and agendas individual to themselves. An exploration of Shakespeare’s King Richard III (1592) and Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard (1996) allows for a greater understanding of the composer’s respective contexts, along with their intended agendas, through the lens of their own societal values and concerns. The manipulation of Richard III’s persona, whether by authorial adaptation of historical sources related to his character, or through the differing views of Richards motives, are universal concepts, that when studied in relation to the differing time periods, accentuates the context and our understanding of recurrent aspects of the human experience.
According to many, Shakespeare intentionally portrays Richard III in ways that would have the world hail him as the ultimate Machiavel. This build up only serves to further the dramatic irony when Richard falls from his throne. The nature of Richard's character is key to discovering the commentary Shakespeare is delivering on the nature of tyrants. By setting up Richard to be seen as the ultimate Machiavel, only to have him utterly destroyed, Shakespeare makes a dramatic commentary on the frailty of tyranny and such men as would aspire to tyrannical rule.
Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet is a film that converts Shakespeare’s famous play into a present-day setting. The film transforms the original texts into modern notions, whilst still employing Shakespearean language. Compared to Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, Luhrmann’s picture is easier for a teenage audience to understand and relate to because of his modernisations. Despite the passing of four centuries Shakespeare’s themes of love, hate, violence, family and mortality remain the same regardless of the setting.
William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello presents to the audience a picture of many different shades of morality and immorality. It is the purpose of this essay to elaborate in detail on this thesis.
Shakespeare, William, and Robert S. Miola. Hamlet: text of the play, the actors' gallery, contexts, criticism, afterlives, resources. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2011. Print.
In comparing the two productions together, one must look at the evolution of the play from the sixteenth-century to modern-day. One aspect is the cultural views. As discussed before the sixteenth-century view of Jews greatly differ than that of modern-day. It is because of the influence of World War II that many perspectives have changed. Radford’s production resonates with the tone of sympathy were as Shakespeare’s echo with rightful justice. There is a grey area that Shakespeare leaves and Radford teeters between his modern interpretation and the classic take.
In past movie adaptations of Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet, most have been set for a time accurate portrayal. Unfortunately however, the interest rate of a movie set in the early 1600’s Elizabethan era with old English, is not something many from the millennial generation can appreciate and gain interest to. Teens tend to have interest in a wide variety of movie categories, from romance to suspense; there are not many limitations to preference, except the time period the film was set in. The use of modern day costume design and a modern setting, a full script change to modern English, and choice of correctly recognizable actors to a teenage audience, will allow this modern adaptation to be successful among the millennial generation.
Throughout history there have been various values that remain relevant in all societies. It is these values that shape the critical fame of social structure and constitutes the very foundation on which individuals stand. In William Shakespeare’s Othello and Tim Nelson’s O (2001); there is a clear evolution of the depiction of certain themes and values which is influenced by context, which is ultimately, directed by social customs, values and meanings. The choice of what values should be represented and in what particular way they should be represented was conducted by the composer of each text, Shakespeare and Nelson, respectively.
middle of paper ... ... akespeare’s poetic language to colloquialism creates a new form of communication reflecting that the fear of death that claimed for so many by world wars, the influenza epidemic and the Depression, was pointless and unnecessary as life means nothing and as a result death means nothing either. Context essentially is the base for all transformation and it influences the values of a society and how these values are expressed and interpreted. R and G… highlights the shift of the purposeless uncertainties of the contemporary context from the religious and social hierarchical certainties of Shakespeare’s social, cultural and historical contexts. The transformation processes evident demonstrate the concept that everyone questions and desires to know what is either reality or unknown, the meaning and certainty of death and the afterlife and ultimately the purpose of life.