Gautambir Soin
In act 1 scene 2 Richard III has many difficulties before he wins Lady Anne.
Shakespeare, too, has many challenges in this scene.
How are these overcome?
Do you find Lady Anne’s capitulation to Richard credible?
The war of the Roses is a civil war between two families fighting for the crown. On one side there are the York’s and on the other side there was the Lancaster family who at the start of the war have thrown. At the end of the war the Lancaster’s have lost the thrown and the only important living Lancaster left is Lady Anne. Lady Anne was the wife of Lancaster prince Edward. He has been killed by Richard III who is a York. He also killed Lady Anne’s father in law and the reigning king Henry VI.
Shakespeare sets Richard III just after the York’s have won the crown. Richard is at a celebration party where everybody is having fun are talking and are having a great time. The way Shakespeare presents Richard III makes us feel that he is the only one not having fun. The reason for this is that Richard III was a great fighter but after the war has finished he has nothing to do and he “hate the idle pleasures of theses days”. He is “Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time”. As he is deformed he can’t woo a woman because no body wants to be with him. Richard III is the type of character that never lies. He tells the audience what he is going to do then he does it and then he asks us “hey wasn’t that good”. This is a quote from one of the people involved making the Richard III movie. He recognises that King Edward is “true and just” and that he is going to have to be that much more “subtle, false, and treacherous”. This tells us that he is not a very nice person and that he is going to do some thing bad. Because he always tell us (the audience) what is going to do he tell us that he is going to try to get Clarence (his brother) imprisoned. He starts a rumour that “about a prophecy which says that ‘G’ of Edwards heirs the murderer shale be”. This means that somebody with the letter ‘G’ in their name is going to kill Edwards’s children. Because Clarence’s, name is George the king first thinks that it is him and gets him imprisoned. But once again Richard has not lied. He said that someone with the letter ‘G’ in their name will kill the children, and his name is Richard Duke of Gloucestershire, there is also the letter ‘G’ in his name. Then he tells us that he is going to marry Lady Anne. This is nearly impossible because he is responsible for her husbands and father in laws death.
