Book #23: The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare

More Shakespeare! Yay! And I am not being sarcastic. I actually really enjoyed reading this play and it may be one of my favorite selections I have read thus far in the challenge. I think I enjoy Shakespeare’s history plays more than his comedies. For some reason, they are easier for me to understand. It is usually the opposite for people. Leave it to me, to actually ENJOY Shakespeare’s more difficult plays. Don’t get me started on Hamlet.

            The Tragedy of Richard III (I know it says tragedy, but it is really labeled a history) is The Comedy of Errors (see last post) and then is asked about the date of Richard III (1592 just FYI). The date seems to slip by her.

referenced in episode four while Rory is cramming for her English exam on Shakespeare. First, she answers a question on

            Richard III chronicles Richard’s rise to power and his short reign as king. Richard is the last Plantagenet king and does not represent the line (which descends from the House of York) well. Richard was heavily involved in the War of the Roses which is too complicated to get into here. I am first to admit that I am not very knowledgeable in Medieval British history; however, it does interest me. I was pleasantly surprised, though, that I was familiar with the context of Richard the III. I recently read the first in Philippa Gregory’s Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, The Lady of the Rivers. This novel focuses on Elizabeth Woodville’s (the prominent female character in Richard III) mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, and the beginning of the War of the Roses. I was unnaturally excited that I recognized some of the figures while reading Richard III. Maybe it is because of those connections that I enjoyed this play so much.

            If you are not familiar with the history of Richard III, just know that he is pretty much the epitome of evil. Richard desperately wants to be king, but he is not exactly likable or attractive or in direct line to the throne. So what does he do? He kills anyone who poses a threat to him no matter how minuscule they are. Men, women, children…the body count is high. Richard is considered a “vice” character meaning he is purely evil without any redeeming qualities. We are well versed with the idea of the antihero in today’s stories. Even if a character is considered Dexter for example. Dexter may be a murderer, but he is an oddly charming guy and you don’t want him to get caught by the police. Richard, though, is evil through and through. He is not a realistic character in this way.

“evil,” there is some good qualities evident in them. Just look at

            While the play Richard III is quite complex, the character of Richard is not. He may be a good oratory, but this is because Shakespeare puts those words in his mouth. Shakespeare makes all of his characters an expert of word play. In the real world, people are not this way. We have multiple levels and different shades that make us who we are. It is easy to write someone off as one way because that is what we are presented with, but we have to remember there are different perspectives.

            There is no doubt that Richard III actually did some atrocious things such as killing Elizabeth Woodville’s two young sons. However, it is also important to note that Queen Elizabeth I, who commissioned this play to be written, was a descendent of King Henry VII. King Henry VII was the king who overthrew Richard III. Obviously, Shakespeare wasn’t going to write Richard as a man with redeeming qualities.

 

I think Richard III looks an awful like Orlando Bloom in this
depiction. 

           “Now is the winder of our discontent.” These words hold a lot of meaning to me right now because it is really f-ing cold out right now, excuse my language. I know Shakespeare means this figuratively and is referring to the political climate of England in 1471. But if you’ve been to the east coast in the last few weeks, you know how cold it has been! And I am not being a baby! All joking aside, Shakespeare uses numerous metaphors throughout his plays. In this one, he often uses word play to refer to Richard’s physical deformities and the often changing political alliances. This is why Shakespeare is so interesting to me; every word he writes is deliberate and has meaning on multiple levels. I would have hated to be dating him back in the day.

Other Thoughts

- Reading vs. Watching: I never realized how many different ways you could interpret Shakespeare’s plays until I went to England and went to several performances at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Their performance of Hamlet, in particular, opened my eyes. I always think of literature and writing from the perspective of the writer. Why did they choose those words? What are their intentions with this character? I never really thought of how an actor can change how I could see a story. I have not seen a Richard III performance, but I can imagine that Richard is a meaty character to play.

- This is Shakespeare’s second longest play, Hamlet being the first. I liked this a lot better than The Comedy Errors, which was his shortest play. Funny how that worked out.

- Richard III is the final play in Shakespeare’s tetralogy. The first three Henry VI plays came before it. I have not read any of those, but we all know that I will read them someday.

- Shakespeare is not one to shy away from writing gruesome scenes for his actors to portray (he made a character eat a pie made up of the dead bodies of her sons in Titus Andronicus). However, in Richard III, most of the deaths happen offstage. Maybe this is because Shakespeare wanted the focus to be on the words and not the blood. Maybe it was to try something different since he just wrote a really gruesome play. Maybe he just wanted to try something new. An author does everything deliberately and Shakespeare must have chosen to exclude these action packed scenes for a reason.

-I recently watched the Netflix show The Crown and now seem to be extra curious about the British monarchy past and present. I don't know if it is the accent or what, but I could just watch it all day. 

- My goal this year is to do one post a week. I’ll try my best to stay on top of my writing. Please feel free to yell at me if I start to slack.

Happy New Year!

Xoxo

Leigh

Up Next: Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Pictures:

Book Cover: https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328043960l/42058.jpg

Movie Still: http://queenanneboleyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/SirLarry_2336388b.jpg

Painting: https://www.mcgoodwin.net/pages/images/hogarthrichard3.jpg