An exploration of intertextual connections reveals the relationship between context and key values. This view is reiterated throughout William Shakespeare’s 16th Century play “King Richard III”, examining the moral ramifications of the relentless pursuit of power, reflected by the politically unstable period of the Elizabethan era. Al Pacino’s docudrama “Looking for Richard” reconstructs history to explore man’s intrinsic desire to act on their ambition for power and the notion of outer appearance versus inner reality. Pacino reincarnates Shakespeare’s depiction of power and deception for his contemporary audience to explicate the enduring nature of these concerns.
Shakespeare depicts Richard’s duplicity under influence of the Elizabethan context, where Richard is heavily condemned by the monarchy and society. Richard’s deception
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The Elizabethan audience for whom Shakespeare wrote could understand the political struggles before Queen Elizabeth’s rule, and the corruptive quality of pursuing power. Richard’s desire for power causes him to abandon his notions of virtue in order to obtain power at any cost. The extent that Richard will go to if necessary is exemplified through the emphatic diction “O bitter consequence”. Richard blames his appearance for his immortal acts “deformed, unfinished, sent before my time” and uses it to fulfill his hunger for power. Shakespeare employs the immediate death of Richard and the animal imagery, “bloody dog”, conveyed by Richmond to portray to his audience that God has restored power to those divinely ordained, “in God’s name, cheerly on courageous friends”, due to Richard’s Machiavellian nature. By depicting Richard’s ability to employ language to deceive and usurp the hand of God in such a manner, Shakespeare reflects the sacred values towards God that existed during the Elizabethan
Prince Hal is initially portrayed as being incapable of princely responsibilities in light of his drinking, robbery and trickery. Yet, Shakespeare reveals that Hal is in fact only constructing this false impression for the purpose of deceit. Prince Hal’s manipulative nature is evident in his first soliloquy, when he professes his intention to “imitate the sun” and “break through the foul and ugly mists”. The ‘sun’ Prince Hal seeks to ‘imitate’ can in this case be understood as his true capacity, as opposed to the false impression of his incapacity, which is symbolised by the ‘foul and ugly mists’. The differentiation of Hal’s capacity into two categories of that which is false and that which is true reveals the duplicity of his character. Moreover, Hal is further shown to be manipulative in the same soliloquy by explaining his tactic of using the “foil” of a lowly reputation against his true capacity to “attract more eyes” and “show more goodly”. The diction of “eyes” symbolically represents public deception, concluding political actions are based on strategy. It is through representation and textual form that we obtain insight into this
Richard III's Usurpation and His Downfall Richards rule was always unstable due to his unlawful usurpation to the throne and his part as far as the public was concerned in the death of the two princes. As a result right from the start he didn't have the trust or support from his country. As soon as he became King people were already plotting against him. After he was crowned he travelled the country trying to raise support by refusing the generous gifts offered to him by various cities. However unknown to him a rebellion was been planned in the South.
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...
Anne is quite like a modern woman in the way that if a man tells her
“I am determined to prove a villain / and hate the idle pleasures of these days. / Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, / by drunken prophecies, libels and dreams.” Richard III, the evil Duke of Gloucester, is fighting a bloody road to the crown in Shakespeare's dramatic play. Stopped by nothing and with brilliant intelligence, Richard fights his way to the king’s position, clothing his villany with “old odd ends stolen out of holy writ.” With no one to fully trust, Richard breaks many hearts by killing all people in his way, and becomes the unstoppable villain. He hides behind a shield of kindness and care, but when he is alone, his real soul comes alive. Sending murderers, or killing people himself, he has no mercy. Manipulating Lady Anne to marry him and promising Buckingham rewards for his deeds, he knows what he is doing, and won’t stop until the crown lies at his feet.
Therefore, through the comparative study of Shakespeare’s historical tragedy King Richard III and Al Pacino’s postmodern docudrama Looking For Richard, it can be clearly demonstrated how the distinctive contexts between both composers inevitably affect their portrayal of ideas. In Pacino’s docudrama ‘Looking For Richard’, not only has he ‘found Richard’ but has also redefined his character portrayal of Richard for his post-modern secular audience.
Examples of this can be seen in Richard’s interactions with his subordinates and those who were loyal to him. These people were the pieces Richard’s metaphorical chess game, and were disposed of and used as he saw
Shakespeare constructs King Richard III to perform his contextual agenda, or to perpetrate political propaganda in the light of a historical power struggle, mirroring the political concerns of his era through his adaptation and selection of source material. Shakespeare’s influences include Thomas More’s The History of King Richard the Third, both constructing a certain historical perspective of the play. The negative perspective of Richard III’s character is a perpetuation of established Tudor history, where Vergil constructed a history intermixed with Tudor history, and More’s connection to John Morton affected the villainous image of the tyrannous king. This negative image is accentuated through the antithesis of Richards treachery in juxtaposition of Richmond’s devotion, exemplified in the parallelism of ‘God and Saint George! Richmond and victory.’ The need to legitimize Elizabeth’s reign influenced Shakespeare’s portra...
Despite Richard's deformity, Shakespeare presents Richard as an all-powerful master of the stage. Initially, Richard's power appears to know no limits. From the first act, the audience is persuaded that he can merely appear on stage and his will is carried ...
Shakespeare, William. Richard III. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1997), 515-600.
Written one year apart from the other, one cannot fail to recognize the parallels between William Shakespeare's tragedies Julius Caesar and Hamlet. To begin, they are both stories of assassinations gone horribly wrong. Although the details of the plays are different, the two assassins (Brutus and Hamlet) provide interesting comparison. Through these two killers, Shakespeare reveals the different levels of justice; one’s personal sense of justice; others’ perception of justice; the justice of the monarchy that supports Shakespeare’s craft. Through this, the audience realizes that a just person is not always a humble one, a condition that may turn out to be a fatal flaw in the end. When a man decides to play God by taking justice into his own hands, the world can unravel much more quickly than he had ever imagined.
Compare the behavior and reactions of Richard, Anne and Elizabeth in Act One Scene Two and Act Four Scene Four.
In Hamlet’s speech, Shakespeare’s efforts to target his Elizabethan audience develop the theme of the frailty of man. Shakespeare conveys this underlying theme of the play by subt...
This device is utilized very effectively through the characters in the play, as Richard is the main character and becomes associated with lying to multiple characters as the play continues. Basically, Richard’s role in the play is characterized by fraud and deceit. It is through the manipulation of appearance versus reality that Richard is able to mask his character and this acts as a catalyst towards his ultimate goal: the throne. The need for Richard to alter the version of himself which the public sees is crucial because his relationship with the people of England is under tension from the very beginning of his reign. Despite this, Richard continues to pursue the throne, with the idea that his quest for the crown will be a successful one.
"What tongue speaks my right drawn sword may prove" is the sentence which concludes a short speech delivered by Henry Bolingbroke to King Richard II (1.1.6). These words are but the first demonstration of the marked difference between the above-mentioned characters in The Tragedy of Richard II. The line presents a man intent on action, a foil to the title character, a man of words.