Term Paper on "Richard III"

Term Paper 4 pages (1357 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Richard III

The play, Richard III, by William Shakespeare, is both a tragedy and a history on the short career of the last medieval English king, believed to have been written between 1591 and 1593 and first published in 1602 (Wikipedia 2006, Library of Congress Cataloguing 2000). Shakespeare's play depicts Richard and his "reign of terror" both unflatteringly and beyond historical accuracy. For entertainment purposes, Shakespeare presents Richard as extremely villainous in order to achieve maximum theatrical effect and in pursuit of a similar and traditional presentation of Richard III by writers previous to Shakespeare. Shakespeare could have drawn details and insights from the work of Sir Thomas More, "History of King Richard III," which was not a history but a highly colored literary account of both accurate and invented details. Shakespeare's true main source was his own imagination for his play of which more than a third consists of invented speeches. It is his attempt to adapt history into theater. Richard is a jealous and ugly hunchback who puts his Clarence out of the way to his succession to the throne ruled by their brother Edward IV. Richard marries the Lady Anne and eliminates other obstacles to his ambition. He executes those who resist his moves and he becomes king.

As rebellion mounts, Richard becomes paranoid and loses his popularity. As the rebels congregate to battle him at the Bosworth Field, Richard is visited by the ghosts of those whom he had killed. He goes through remorse in the final hours and repents but it is too late (Wikipedia, Library of Congress Cataloguing).

Richard III Society's version is set in England in the 1930s with the end of the Civil War and the enthronement of Edward and the jealousy of his hunchback and ugly youngest brother, Richard (MGM 2006). It stars Ian McKellen as Richard III, a skilled seducer of women and charmer and leader of men. Similar to the character of Shakespeare's play, this movie's Richard focuses all his skills in the attainment of a cherished dream ambition, the throne of England. As in Shakespeare's play, this Richard seduces and eventually marries Lady Anne and realizes his destructive plot through the help of the Duke of Buckingham and James Tyrell, his assassin. He eliminates his older brother Clarence, who stands on his way to the throne, by murdering him in the Tower of London. Again similarly to Shakespeare's play, King Edward falls ill and dies within days. Richard also eliminates the Protector and makes himself the Protector of the under-aged Prince of Wales, the new heir. He locks this under-aged prince in the Tower. He also removes the Prime Minister, Lord Hastings, and thus begins his reign of terror, similarly in Shakespeare's play. With all the forces on his side, he is crowned King Richard III of England. The difference in this movie version is that the young prince and his younger brother are murdered in the Tower along with Richard's wife, Lady Anne. But similar to Shakespeare's play, opposition develops under the young Henry Richmond in this movie version and builds an army to invade Richard's kingdom. Richard's friends soon get disenchanted and leave him and give their support to Richmond instead. Richard loses even the daughter of Queen Elizabeth, who marries Richmond rather than Richard. These superior forces and a bad conscience overwhelm him and he thrusts himself into the battlefield, declaring that good has not conquered evil (MGM).

In the movie version, "Looking for Richard," Al Pacino creates, directs and stars as Richard III's obsession for power, lust and betrayal through the streets of New York to the birthplace of Shakespeare to an emotionally charged production of Richard III (Richard III Society 1996) it is a presentation of Shakespeare with an untraditional format more accessible to the modern audience and with which this modern audience can relate better. The cast includes Estelle Parsons as Queen Margaret, Alec Baldwin as Clarence, Kevin Spacey as Buckingham, Winona Ryder as Lady Anne and Aidan Quinn as Richmond. Al Pacino also puts in the enthusiasm and help… READ MORE

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