Richard III Commentary Act I, Scene 3

Richard III, Commentary.

This extract is taken from Act I, Scene 3 of the play King Richard III, written by Shakespeare by the end of the 16th century. Before this scene the audience has been able to witness the sinister health condition King Edward has to face, but also the support given by his wife, Queen Elizabeth. The Duke of Buckingham, closely announced his Kings will to reconcile the conflicts in his court, but his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester continues to stir up trouble with his brother’s wife family, Elizabeth’s. Soon after, Queen Margaret, matriarch of the previous King, tries to restore what belonged to her husband. She end up violently cursing the characters and leaves an astonished assembly. By the end of the scene two murderers will enter, to plan with Richard his brother George, Duke of Clarence's death.

The extract starts with Buckingham and Rivers saying that they have been shaken by Queen Margaret's maledictions, as if Margaret’s curses physically affected them, Buckingham's "hair doth stand on end to hear her curses" and Rivers is "muse why she's at liberty". Richard reaction’s gives contrast, as he is calm, he uses religious semantic field, as he speaks, through words such as “God’s holy mother”, and “repent” to show how deeply he regrets what he has done to hurt Margaret and repents the wrongs he has done. Richard publically shows that he is forgiving to fool the assembly; of course he’s been totally hypocritical, the theme of reality and appearance are strongly present here.

Richard uses alliteration in “f” and “t” to emphasize the unfortunate situation Clarence is in. He opposes, through rhetoric, the word “fatting” and those “hurtful” sounds to holy words such as “God” and “pardon”, he’s able to show powerfully how poorly his brother is treated by the king. The King is seen as the devil by the assembly at such a moment as Richard seem virtuous to show forgiveness in the name of God to those who are responsible for this terrible treatment. Those lines are ironic, as the audience knows that it is Richard who is responsible for his brother's problems. This makes him powerful and the audience further learns that he is in total control of his actions and he knows more than any other character on stage. In this way, Richard is perceived by the others as a "virtuous and a Christian", as says Rivers. He has managed to manipulate his audience and family and appear pious. Richard's fake personality helps him control others mind but also achieve the reality he desires, exploring the theme of manipulation in this passage.

Before Catesby enters, Richard speaks to himself and says that he cannot curse other people's wrongdoings otherwise he would be cursing himself. This aside, directly addressed to the audience, reveals Richard's double sided personality, as the other characters on stage cannot hear what is being said. By contrast to Lady Anne, in Act I, Scene 2, who curses Richard's future wife, wanting her to be "made more miserable" than she is then, Richard is cautious to not curse anyone, knowing that he would be cursing himself. With this aside, Richard shows how intelligent and cunning he is, furthering the audience's pleasure at watching him skilfully switch between one role and another, which he shows to us when he says he "clothe[s] [his] naked villainy". Moreover, this aside, which adds a hint of comedy to the text, relieves the audience after the violence of Queen Margaret's insults.

This extract is also interesting if we look at the particular portrayal of the characters it brings. For instance, we witness, at this time of the play, how naive and suggestible Rivers is. He “follows” Buckingham in his thoughts from the second line, prays Richard for his short speech of pardon (l.13-14), and is the first one to blindly obey Catesby’s order a bit further in the extract. We can as well look at how he says, answering to Richard in the 14th line: “To pray for them that have done scathe to us.” It is interesting to see how he identifies himself as being part of Richard’s team, as being on his side, through this phrase, though the future monarch never told him such a thing. All of this shows information on Rivers’ personality, and contributes to give the audience the feeling that he too, is a simple pawn in Richard’s plans achievement.

Catesby’s entering on stage marks the end of Richard’s manipulative conversation with the ones surrounding him. When Elizabeth and the lords are called by the king, the queen asks them all if they “will go with [her]”. This sentence might be seen as having a metaphorical meaning, in the way that she implicitly asks the nobles who are on stage if they will ally with her, be on her side. Rivers’ quick and positive answer seems to answer “yes” to that implicit question. But we have seen previously that he was considering himself as being on Richard’s side, or at least as being part of his team, of his allies. In our opinion, such a behaviour by Rivers is meant to achieve the effect of portraying him as a lost character, not very clairvoyant about the situation surrounding him, and about Richard’s plans.

After Catesby announces that the King has requested the presence of his courtiers, Richard is left alone on stage and a division is clearly visible in the text. The reader would find it easy to understand that something important is about to be said than the audience as there is space created around Richard's soliloquy. On stage, a director might have the actor wait until all the characters have left the stage before the soliloquy begins. This intervention allows Richard to act as the chorus. In the tragedies of the ancient Greek playwrights, the "chorus", represented as a group of ordinary citizens, would comment on the action which they had just witnessed. Here Richard does the same and keeps the audience informed about the progress of his villainous plots and motivations. His first line radiates gleeful enjoyment as his language suggests: he "begin[s] to brawl". He then continues his soliloquy by praising himself and boasting about his manipulative skills ("I do beweep to many simple gulls"), adding comedy to the text and furthering the liking the audience has for this character. The fact that every character but Richard then leaves the stage has an interesting dramatic effect for the audience. It clearly, physically shows the gap between Richard and the others, the divergence in their respective plans. It shows that Edward’s attempt to unite all his surroundings into peace will certainly not have an effect on Richard, as he doesn’t answer to the Kings “invitation”.

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