Free College Essays - The Last Act of Richard III

The Last Act of Richard III

In Shakespeare's play Richard III, the main character Richard is developed as an actor - to the degree of morbidity. Richard is forever putting on an act, and playing the part that he thinks will most please whomever he shares the stage with at a given moment. Not that to please is his ultimate goal, it is just a means to get what he wants--which is the tempting role of the king. His acts are from the start plentiful, and for some time almost surprisingly effective. To Clarence he plays the Loving and Concerned Brother. His counterfeit fools Clarence into a state of trust that is stunning to the spectator, who knows that the events which make Richard exclaim "We are not safe, Clarence, we are not safe!" (I.i.70) are in fact Richard's own doing.

Alone with his audience, Richard plays the part of the Self-confident Villain. The audience serves a function not unlike that of a mirror, only it mirrors character traits rather than looks. He introduces himself as the actor who cannot play the role of lover (i.e. be good) satisfactorily, so he chooses to play the villain (i.e. be bad) instead. The notion that this is a choice, as well as his use of the word play rather than be, underline the fact that to him this is all acting. In front of the audience--his mirror and thus a second self--Richard toys around with the conviction that he can do anything he sets his mind to through the means of his acting abilities. He leaves his audience speechless by going through with the overly ambitious task he sets up. He tells us that he will marry Warwick's youngest daughter, and the next thing you know, he has pulled it off. Whether Anne falls for Richard's sex appeal or his rhetoric is moot, yet she does fall. Richard himself seems credulous at her giving in so easily; "Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? / Was ever woman in this humour won?" (I.ii.232-233) He talks as if it were a sign that his repulsiveness must in some way appear attractive to her, although the way he expresses this makes me doubt his seriousness. Perhaps this is an attempt at sharing a joke with his audience, his feeling being that as it cannot possibly be his looks she has fallen for, it must be his words.