Long Live Richard, England's Royal King!

BRAKENBURY.  Well, madam, and in health. But by your leave, I may not suffer you to visit him. The King hath straitly charged the contrary.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.  The King? Why, who's that?

BRAKENBURY.  I cry you mercy: I mean the Lord Protector. (Act IV, Scene I, 10-14, p. 69)

       In the opening scene of Act IV, Queen Elizabeth along with Lady Anne, Duchess of York and Marquis Dorset request to see Prince Edward and the Duke of York inside the tower. Brakenbury denies their entry at Richard III's request, but by inadvertently referring to Richard III as 'The King' Brakenbury unintentionally exposes Richard III's inevitable ascension to the throne to Queen Elizabeth, the mother of Prince Edward and the Duke of York. At this point Queen Elizabeth realizes the immediate danger that her two sons are in as Richard III's opposition to the crown.

Man in the mirror- quote

"What do I fear? Myself? There's none else by. Richard lovesRichard; that is, and I. Is there a murderer here? No. Yes,  I am. Then fly! What, from myself? There's none else by." (5.3.193)
This quote is of King Richard talking to himself after his dream about all of his victims. This quote is significant because it is the first time Richard shows any sign of a moral compass. This marks a significant change in Richards character, where now he is starting to feel regret about his actions,and is beginning to question himself as a person.

FFS, Rick.

I was struck with an overwhelming sense of "for f*ck's sake" upon coming across the exchange in act IV, scene two regarding Richard’s wish to kill the two boys, specifically lines 20-22: (Richard to Buckingham) “Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead, And I would have it suddenly performed. What sayst thou now?”. Which, to me, sounds like “Hey, kill those kids. Ok? Ok.” And when Buckingham offers his hesitations about the matter (lines 26-27: “Give me some little breath, some pause, dear lord, Before I positively speak in this”) Richard says, in short, “Lame. I’ll get someone else that’s not a wuss.”

I find it so outrageously bold and somewhat comical of Richard, though not completely out of turn for him, being that the play has sort of been prepping us all along for his general outrageousness- and I do remind myself that it is indeed a play- but to me it’s so silly that it takes me out of the moment and makes me hyperaware that it is really just a play.

This all brings me to that overarching theme of this course so far: the embellishment of historical tales and the degree thereof. We know already that the facts are skewed, but I wonder (my own disbelief aside) that, if they weren’t, would it or could it have happened so casually? Clearly, I haven’t the real answer to this, but what I do know  is this: there are more layers to this conundrum than just skewed facts- that is, their depiction that brings people to be so misinformed. If Shakespeare is going around saying this untrue thing happened in this absurd manner, then things get extra funky (and not in a good way).

I couldn't find an image with quite the right feel to accompany this blog post, so I made my own. 

Created using imgflip.com, image from television series "The Simpsons"

History is Written by the Biggest Liar.

Well, it worked for a while, didn't it? Referring to the body of Richard III being discovered beneath a parking lot. The joke is playing on a gag from Blackadder S1E1, where Edmund accidentally decapitates the king, whom Edmund thought was stealing his horse. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9qaYpPyfz0/URBzS_IfPMI/AAAAAAAAUBY/wDvTSGetYQQ/s1600/66190_4288074489309_136643974_n.jpg

       Most people know the claim that history is written by the victor. The person who won the war, spread the rumor faster, and occasionally the person who threatened the chronicler, gets to decided what is put on the record as the true events. Act 5, scene 5 of Richard the Third shows Henry Tudor as the new king, pious and merciful, fighting for peace in the kingdom, not just a man out to advance his own station.

Inter their bodies as befits their births.

 Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled

That in submission return to us,

And then, as we have ta'en the sacrament,

We will unite the white rose and the red. (5.5.15-19)

     Not only is it in Henry's interests to play the good guy, it is in Shakespeare's interests to write him that way. Queen Elizabeth I was, after all, Henry's granddaughter. I doubt any monarch would be pleased if a popular playwright claimed their ancestor's claim to the throne (and thus their own) was weak or illegitimate, let alone a bad person.

The Beggining of the End

If you can't trust your friends than who can you trust. In act 4 scene 2 Richard loses one of his closest friends Buckingham's trust and support. Richard asks Buckingham to kill the two princes, the rightful heirs to the throne. This deed is important to Richard because they are the two most threatening to Richards power. When Buckingham yields at Richards request, he immediately falls out of Richards favor. This moment is significant because it shows that when your friends start to realize that what you're doing may be going to far, you lose your support and eventually your power. Having no support even from your friends is detrimental to anyone who wants to accomplish any sort of goal. Richard resorts to having Tyrrell and his lot kill the boys. This highlights Richards panic to have any threat removed. Having Richards friends fall out of his favor and resorting to alterative resources to achieve your goals is a tell tail sign from Shakespeare that Richard is going to eventually collapse and that he is feeling desperate and insecure.

Re-living Events for...Fun?

“Kind Tyrrel, am I happy in thy news?...
 Come to me, Tyrrel, soon at after-supper,
When thou shalt tell the process of their death...
Farewell till then.” (Act 4, scene 3, 25 & 34-38)

After the death of his nephews, Richard III asked to hear about the excecution.  In doing so he makes himself out to be undeniably sadistic. It was obvious when Richard arranged the death of the boys, but wanting to hear about it over dinner is awful. This scene makes me think of an episode in Greys Anatomy, although this episode brings the opposite view of a person.   In this episode a woman’s husband has died and she asks the surgeon who operated on him to repeat the poscedure over and over again.  She does this until she realizes there was no way he could have been saved.  She does this out of grief and sadness of losing her husband.  Richard on the other hand, asks for the description out of interest and desire.  He finds happiness in their death and wants to hear about it for his pleasure.  He is outright sadistic and has no intentions of hiding that.  By starting off with “am I happy in thy news?” He shows that if the murder has taken place he will be happy, then by asking Tyrrel to come back and explain it to him he shows interest in the matter.  Not to mention the fact that it will happen right hafter he eats, any other person would probably be sick in hearing the details but not Richard.  This scene dives us further into Richards evil mind and gives us without a doubt feelings that he is an awful person.

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Looks Can Be Deceiving

After reading acts four and five, I was surprised by how insecure Richard felt when he finally was named king. My first impression of him came from the first acts when he made that big scene when those people were carrying Lady Annes husbands coffin. To me that gave the impression of a confident and almost cocky man, especially when he later seduces Lady Anne and boosts his own ego. When Richard felt so shaky about his power status that he ordered two of the princes to be killed displays an uneasy state of which he feels his power is being questioned. Its like his defense mechanism where his only way of surviving is killing anyone who threatens his authority or delays his goals to rise to power.