Richard's Actions in William Shakespeare's Play

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Richard's Actions in William Shakespeare's Play

To begin with, this essay will summarise Act 1 by pointing out the

main factors. There are three main factors in Act 1, which are

firstly, the opening soliloquy, secondly, the wooing of Lady Anne, and

finally, Richard and Clarence.

Richard is appealing because he is an expert actor and trickster.

Whilst he is outlining his plots, he is always in charge of himself,

and extremely aware of how to play every scene to his advantage. His

dishonesty and deception are daring and irresistible to the audience.

He is skilled at playing the concerned family man, taking his brother,

Clarence and then he becomes the Protector of his nephews.

Richard's ultimate plan is to be King, to reach this goal; he must

conduct acts of tyranny because he has no right to be King (the Divine

Right of Kingship).

In the opening soliloquy, Richard lays out his plots and thinks about

how he can get Clarence imprisoned and killed. During the wooing of

Lady Anne, first of all she is reluctant to give into Richard, however

after a while of Richard wooing her, she gives in to him.

And, throughout the conversation between Richard and Clarence, Richard

is seen to be a Machiavellian character. Richard wants to get rid of

his other brother, the Duke of Clarence, who has a closer claim to the

throne as the older heir. Richard instigates a plot to get the two

brothers to be against each other between the king and Clarence, which

result in Clarence being imprisoned in the Tower of London. Later, two

murderers are sent by Richard execute him.

Richard's opening soliloquy frames much of the play and reveals a

great deal about the personality of Richard's character. The opening

remarks are very logical in their progression: because Richard is

deformed, he cannot be loved; because he cannot be loved, he must be a

villain; because he must be a villain, he will strive for the throne.

This logical progression is of course anything but logical.

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