Comparing the Behavior of Characters in Richard III

RICHARD III

Compare the behavior and reactions of Richard, Anne and Elizabeth in Act One Scene Two and Act Four Scene Four.

In the start of both scenes, both Elizabeth and Anne are enraged and verbally attack Richard. Both women did not intend to marry Richard. hard was a very clever man, until he became king. He became over confident and did not even realise when he was losing a battle with the not-so-soft Elizabeth. He was successful with the weak, tenderhearted Anne in Act one Scene Two. He was very ruthless. He was very determined to get what he wanted, whatever he had to do for it.

In Act Scene Two, Richard is very clever and intelligent with his moves in convincing Anne to marry him. In fact his knowledge and organisation led him to having three stages of development in manipulating Anne. Anne was an easy target though. He thought that Elizabeth was just as easy to convince, so he did not put any extra effort in. But little did he know that that extra effort would have saved his life. He totally put aside his manipulation skills and took it calm and easy in Act Four Scene Four, so he had to get quite desperate at the end of the scene. He was satisfied to know that he won both oral battles against the ladies, at least he thought so. But Elizabeth was not as weak as poor Anne was. She had a couple of tricks up her sleeve. She was aware of Richard’s evil plans. She had a feeling Richard had slaughtered her dear sons, as well as innocent lady Anne. She knew for sure that he had murdered Anne’s husband and father in-law. And she had a feeling that he had done more harm than what meets the eye. She acted as though she gave in and made the path clear for Richard to marry her daughter (Elizabeth, of the same name).

Richard had weakened since he had become king and was no longer ruthless as he had no reason to be ruthless. He had got what he wanted and was pleased with himself. He thought he was invincible, and he was too confident, which cost him his life. If he had been more careful, he would have been aware of the danger that lied before him. But, he did use some similar techniques in both the scenes.