In the opening soliloquy, Richard lays out his plots and thinks about how he can get Clarence imprisoned and killed. During the wooing of Lady Anne, first of all she is reluctant to give into Richard, however after a while of Richard wooing her, she gives in to him. And, throughout the conversation between Richard and Clarence, Richard is seen to be a Machiavellian character.
Richard's opening soliloquy frames much of the play and reveals a great deal about the personality of Richard's character. The opening remarks are very logical in their progression: because Richard is deformed, he cannot be loved; because he cannot be loved, he must be a villain; because he must be a villain, he will strive for the throne. This logical progression is of course anything but logical. However, it hides the fact that for Richard, the deformity is merely an excuse to play the Machiavellian character, a role which he enjoys. By opening the play with Richard, Shakespeare gives the central character’s view of his world, and this enables the villain to draw the audience in.
This soliloquy also functions as a kind of prologue, with Richard acting as a figure who would not normally participate in the action of the play. As a result, we are aware of the central character as an actor. This idea is a very essential one in the play. We also immediately sense that everything that will occur in the play depends upon Richard; the play has a central figure as its focus, right from the start.
In Act 1:2; Richard overcomes Lady Anne to some extent, because of the very status of women in this play. In order to have power, every woman must be allied with a man who also has power. Consequently, for Lady Anne to maintain her status, she must give in to Richard's proposal.
She gives in just at the point where Richard bares his breast and offers Anne his sword. Anne drops the sword and gives in. She knows that she should not be taken in, but she is. She allows herself to accept the affirmations of affection she hears as truth. Richard has craftily fascinated her with words. Throughout Act 1:2, Richard always has an answer for her, and he flatters her. He shamelessly tells her that her beauty led him to commit the murders of her husband, Prince Edward, and his father, King Henry VI. What is truly fascinating is that she agrees to marry him knowing full well that he will at some point kill her.
Lady Anne gave in to Richard because he has appealed to her best instincts; he has convinced her that she should forgive, even if she cannot forget. He has also feigned penitence.
In Richard's scheme against Clarence, we see the first concrete result of his subtle and hypocritical designs. Additionally, in the symmetrical exchange of noblemen going in and out of the Tower of London we see how fleeting favour must have been in the royal court: Clarence falls from royal favour and is locked up, while Hastings regains it and is freed. During the scheme against Clarence, Richard deceives him by acting friendly with him, but then, when he left for the Tower of London, Richard puts a scheme together to make Clarence and King Edward be against each other. He has arranged for King Edward to find his brother, Clarence, a threat and imprison him to the Tower.
The first act brings in the imagery of mirrors and shadows, both of which are used extensively throughout the play to describe Richard. In scene two he wants to look at himself in a mirror after Lady Anne takes his ring. This symbolizes the fact that Richard is able to reflect people back onto themselves. So, Lady Anne sees him as possibly being a good man because she herself is good. Clarence views him as "kind," which is a better description of himself. And like a mirror, Richard is impossible to see through.
Imagery is also used in Act 1 Scene 2, where Anne is cursing Richard. She uses images of the devil, and “blood thirsty animals”, such as dogs, hogs, boars, spiders, and toads. Dogs were thought to be not only faithful creatures, but also envious. Toads and spiders were traditionally associated with the devil, while the hog or boar was a symbol of greed and lust. The repeated use of these images adds insult to injury of a negative impression of Richard, who is also characterised as an unnatural butcher. The frequent references
The argument for Richard being “totally evil” can be summarised by the following points:
- Richard feels that he has to be a villain just because he is deformed, he cannot prove a lover, and that he cannot enter into the idle pleasures of these days.
- Richard deceives to Clarence by saying that Queen Elizabeth has caused King Edward to imprison Clarence, however, the audience know that it was actually Richard who caused King Edward to imprison Clarence, for the reason that Richard believes that Clarence is a threat to King Edward’s throne.
- Thus, Richard has set the two brothers against each other, and the prophecy of “G” has been eliminated - (George, Duke of Clarence). Richard has ordered the death of his own brother, even though he has done nothing to him-all it is, is that Clarence has a closer claim to the throne as the older heir.
- Richard also deceives Anne, when he is wooing her, however he does own up before the end of the scene. First, he says to Anne that he did not murder Prince Edward and King Henry VI, and then later on he says that he did, but only because of Anne’s beauty.
- Also in Scene 2, Richard is in control, however cunningly, Richard lets Anne think that she is in control. The audience are very aware of this in Scene 2. This power that Richard has overwhelms both himself and Anne.
- Richard deceives everyone he meets in the first act of this play.
- Richard is two-faced when talking to Clarence.
- The audience are led to believe that Richard and Clarence have no blood-ties/brotherly love because of Richard’s horrendous actions.
- Richard is seen by the audience to have no conscience, because of what he has done to his own brother. His reasons are not even justified for taking such dreadful actions.
The argument for Richard being the “undisputed hero of the play” can be summarised by the following points:
- In Scene 2, he was persistent and audacious enough to win over Anne’s love. He also had the power to play mind games with her to win her over with words.
- Throughout Act 1, Richard always seems to have an answer for his victim. This is very clever, as he could win over the hearts of some of the audience this way.
I can now conclude that Richard’s actions in Act 1 reveal him to be “totally evil”. Before he has won over his victims, he is seen as a devilish, deceiving bastard. He should not take the theory that because of his physical deformity and because he cannot prove a lover, he should become a villain and gain power.
