In Act 1, what strategies does Richard use to set his plots in motion and why are they so effective? Discuss whether Richard's actions reveal him to be

GCSE English Coursework Question In Act 1, what strategies does Richard use to set his plots in motion and why are they so effective? Discuss whether Richard's actions reveal him to be "totally evil" or the "undisputed hero of the 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 overwhelming. Scornful of women, Richard is nonetheless a successful wooer of Lady Anne. He is equally skilled at playing the concerned family man, taking his brother, Clarence and then he becomes the Protector of his nephews. Richard also seems to have high spirits. He is bustling with intellectual energy and confidence for revelling in his devilry. It is hard to resist his gleeful enjoyment because he draws the audience in with his long soliloquies. He is also fearless, witty and ironic, all traits designed to win over the audience. Richard is supremely individualistic, a deliberate deceiver and dissembler, who chooses to operate outside the accepted moral codes of

  • Word count: 1495
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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We recently watched the film Pretty Woman, which was directed by American Hollywood.

Pretty Woman We recently watched the film Pretty Woman, which was directed by American Hollywood producer Garry Marshall, who had previously produced 70's T.V sitcoms, such as Happy Days, Mork & Mindy, and Laverne & Shirley. This film was made between 24th July 1989 and 18th October 1989, and was then released on 23rd March 1990. Pretty Woman cost $14million to make, but was a huge hit and in the U.S alone it made $178million, furthermore it made $478million worldwide. The story of Pretty Woman is based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, and the musical and 1964 film My Fair Lady, in which Rex Harrison plays Professor Higgins and Audrey Hepburn plays flower seller Eliza Doolittle. The soundtrack for this film was 'Oh, Pretty Woman', which was sung by Roy Orbison. In Pretty Woman Richard Gere plays wealthy and ruthless businessman, Edward Lewis, and Julia Roberts plays Vivien Ward who is a young prostitute. Pretty Woman starts with Edward breaking up with his girlfriend, so he takes a drive to Beverly Hills and unintentionally picks up prostitute Vivien, when he is trying to work out how to drive his lawyer's wife's car. He explains to her that he buys companies that are starting to deteriorate, breaks them up and then sells them for a profit. He needs someone to take to a business meal the next evening, so he gives her $3000 to stay with him for the week. Vivien goes

  • Word count: 1393
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Richard III's Character in the Play and History

Using Act 1 Scene 2 as a Starting Point, Discuss The Character of Richard III as Shakespeare Presents Him, and How the Play May Reflect a Tudor View of History. In Shakespeare's 'King Richard III,' Richard is portrayed as an evil and manipulative man. This however may not have been his true self as the incidents were written around one hundred and ten years later. In this essay I shall be analysing Richard's character and how that may differ from how he was in real life. In Act 1 Scene 2 the corpse of Henry VI, having been defeated at the battle of Tewkesbury, is being carried in the funeral procession and Anne, his daughter in-law, is mourning his death. Richard enters and we immediately get an impression of him. He orders the procession to be stopped in line 33, 'Stay, you that bear the corpse, and set it down.' It is unorthodox to stop a funeral and he also is very disrespectful and he shows how ill mannered and rude he can be. Anne then reflects a similar opinion as she tells the audience her impression of Richard, "What black magician conjures up this fiend." She describes him as though he is evil, this links to the end of the play in which Richard represents evil, as opposed to Richmond representing good, in the final battle at Bosworth. Richard then continues his trail of insolence by ignoring Anne's comment and threatening

  • Word count: 2381
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Mary Tudor's Reign Was a Disaster: Do You Agree?

Mary Tudor's Reign Was a Disaster: Do You Agree? Mary Tudor was the best Tudor queen. She was determined, straightforward and had all of the good Tudor qualities. There was one thing, however, that made her the most hated monarch ever. Mary was a devout Catholic. Her reign started very badly. Edward's protector: The Duke Of Northumberland kne w that Mary would become queen after Edward. He also knew that Mary would execute him as he had helped Edward change the church.To save his skin, he persuaded Edward to write in his will that the son of Lady Jane Grey - who had now married Northumberland's son would rule after him. Edward became ill. It was obvious that he would soon die. Edward's will was altered; so that it said that Jane Grey and her son would rule. On 6th July 1553 Edward died. The news was kept secret until Northumberland bullied the council into proclaiming Lady Jane as queen. Mary managed to escape Northumberland's agents and went to Norfolk, which was full of Catholics. She wrote a letter to the council demanding the throne. Northumberland's troops sent to fight Mary deserted. He was forced to surrender. He was hanged on July 1553. Mary changed everything that her brother had done. This meant that: . The prayer book was outlawed. 2. Holy Days were to be observed. 3. Mary refused the title "head of the church". 4. Married priests were to leave their

  • Word count: 846
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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King Richard III, how significant is act 3 scene 7 to the play as a whole?

King Richard III How significant is act 3 scene 7 to the play as a whole? You should take in account: Character: presentation and relationships Themes: conscience, appearance Stage craft: role play, play within a play Language: rhetoric, irony and juxtapositioning Audience response: characters, morality play. Context: Shakespeare's portrayal of Richards's kingship and Tudor myth. Introduction King Richard was set in Elizabethan era. In this period of time the War of the Roses was fought. It was a war fought for 32 years in 1455 to 1487, during the Tudor dynasty. The war of the roses had been fought against the two royal families known as the house of York and the house of Lancaster. Richard was apart of the York house and wanted kingship. Richard III is the final play of a cycle of eight plays that William Shakespeare wrote during the struggle for the crown during 1398 - 1485. Richards's involvement in the play was to manipulate and murder any people who got in his way when he was trying to get the crown. In this essay I will be examining how significant act 3 scene 7 is to the play as a whole. Five sections will be taken in to account to solve this: Character, themes, stage, language and audience response. Character Richard and Buckingham are presented as individuals in a multitude of different ways. Throughout the play Richard is portrayed as an actor. An

  • Word count: 754
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Examine the dramatic techniques used by Shakespeare to manipulate the audiences response to Richard.

Richard 3rd English Coursework For this essay I have been given the question; examine the dramatic techniques used by Shakespeare to manipulate the audiences response to Richard. I have restricted myself to examining two scenes in detail. .2 Richard is an extremely quick verbal swordsman and Shakespeare demonstrates this by having very fast interplay between Richard and Anne. Imagery is used - he invokes St.Paul twice, (line 36 and 41) and most of his audience would have been aware that this Saint was one who had undergone a transformation (for the better) in his character. (Probably not so amongst the rank and file of a modern audience) Anne responds by calling on a higher authority in her speech, mentioning God three times between lines 50 and 70. The religious imagery continues, with angels being counterpoised with devils (Anne - O wonderful, when devils tell the truth - Richard - More wonderful, when angels are so angry) The ironic nature of the choice used by the two characters is interesting, as Richard, the supposedly evil one, is the one who invokes angels. The religious theme recurs throughout the scene with several references to god - "Villain, thou know`st nor law of God nor man," - ; "Then God grant me too," and "Having God, her conscience and these bars against me,". The sparring in itself provokes an audience reaction - this is a man used to power, wielded

  • Word count: 1012
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Richard - monster vs empathy

Shakespeare is adept at creating monsters, but has a special capacity to make us empathetic with them as well as appalled by them. Use Richard III to focus a discussion on the extent to which this is true. Shakespeare's Richard is full of charm and wit, however he admits he is also "determined to prove a villain". Throughout Richard III, we see Richard commit horrific and appalling acts - betraying his own brother, wooing Anne and manipulating the common people, all in an attempt to secure the throne. But, despite this, there are moments where we, as the audience, empathise with Richard because even we are not altogether immune to his charismatic allure. From the opening scene, Richard's manipulation of the audience to evoke empathy begins. In his opening soliloquy Richard plays to the audience's weakness in that we do not know him or his intentions, he has the ability to give us a first impression of him of his own creation. He exaggerates his "withered arm", a deformity which he continually tells us, not only in the opening soliloquy but throughout the play, causes him to be an outcast. Furthermore, he expresses how his deformity renders him unloved, and that because he "cannot prove to be a lover" like his handsome brother King Edward, he is "determined to prove a villain". He justifies the villainous actions he is to commit throughout the play by allowing the

  • Word count: 790
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Discuss how the climatic scenes from Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow make use of similar cinematography in order to communicate the gothic nature of the narrative

Discuss how the climatic scenes from Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow make use of similar cinematography in order to communicate the gothic nature of the narrative Both films, Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Sleepy Hollow (1999) are directed by Tim Burton. They are both of the Gothic fantasy genre so will use very similar techniques for the films, e.g. lighting, colour, camera angles etc. Sleepy Hollow is a film about a town which is haunted by the headless horseman. Ichabod Crane is sent from New York to investigate the goings on. Edward Scissorhands is about an unfinished scientist's creature with scissors for hands. The scientist who created died before he was finished leaving the creature (Edward) in the isolated house on the top of a hill overlooking the town of suburbia. Edward is found and brought down to live with them. Johnny Depp features in both of these films as the main characters, Ichabod and Edward. Johnny Depp has featured in other films for Tim Burton like the 2005 re-make of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Tim Burton uses montage editing to create panic, drama and terror. In Sleepy Hollow the film cuts from Katrina and the Stepmother in the windmill, to the headless horseman who is racing toward the windmill, and then to Ichabod who is similarly racing towards the windmill in order to save Katrina. The images are brief, this helps speed up the

  • Word count: 2490
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Richard III by William Shakespeare - 'How much sympathy do you have for the executed Hastings?'

Richard III by William Shakespeare 'How much sympathy do you have for the executed Hastings?' This essay is to assess how much sympathy the naïve and harmless Hastings deserves after being fooled by the cunning Richard III and falling into his trap of trusting him. In Act I Scene I, Richard plays the loving, faithful and devoted brother when Clarence arrives at the tower, and sympathises greatly with Hastings. He pretends to be worried by the news of Edward's poor health, suggesting not simply his family loyalty, but also his concern for the nation. In his conversations with both Clarence and Hastings, Richard slanders Queen Elizabeth and her relatives, blaming them for all of the ills that have befallen both Clarence and Hastings, claiming that is was she that convinced the king to have them sent to the tower in the first place. Throughout the conversation with Hastings, Richard flatters his victim, telling him what he wants to hear and as Hastings does not like Queen Elizabeth due to previous events, he is taken in by what Richard has been telling him. 'More pity that eagles should be mew'd While kites and buzzards prey at liberty' (1.1.line132-3). In this quotation, Hastings is using a metaphor describing his opinion on the matter of being sent to the tower by claiming that the eagles are he and Clarence who are trapped, whilst the kites and buzzards are the followers

  • Word count: 2647
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why does the audience admire Richard III and feel sympathy based on the opening soliloquy?

Why does the audience admire Richard III and feel sympathy based on the opening soliloquy? In this essay, I will try to explain the reasons why the audience feels admiration and has a sense of sympathy toward Richard III despite his tyranny and evil intentions based on the opening soliloquy. We will also asses the social, philosophical and historical context in order to explain why the audience may or may not feel admiration and a sense of sympathy toward Richard III. Richard should be admired for his bravery firstly. If we look at the historical context, we find that Richard had just won a war against the Lancastrians to give his family the crown. In the beginning of the soliloquy some of the audience would maybe get the idea, that Richard must be quite a firm person, who interested in the desires of life, such as 'sportive tricks'. This is as everyone else is indulging deep into their 'sportive tricks', and despite the ' lascivious pleasing of a lute' it doesn't seem to interest him. This may draw both audiences to feel admiration for him due his maturity. This would be taken out of context, as when we read on we find that this is what he wants. He wants indulge in these 'sportive tricks'; but the he cannot as he describes himself with many adjectives and emotive phrases like 'cheated of feature by dissembling nature, deformed, unfinished, sent before my time'. . These

  • Word count: 1476
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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