In the next part of the scene, Clarence tells Richard that King Edward finds him a threat, and has imprisoned him to the Tower. In front of Clarence, Richard acts as if he does not know about what is going on, although the audience knows that he does. The audience know that Richard is lying, for example in this quote “… But what’s the matter, Clarence? May I know?” This is an example of dramatic irony, as the audience had previously seen Richard talking about his plans in his first soliloquy. Although we are disgusted at the irony of this situation, we are also in awe at Richard’s acting skill. Richard then blames Queen Elizabeth for causing King Edward to imprison Clarence: “’Tis not the king that sends you to the Tower. My lady Grey, his wife, Clarence, ‘tis she that tempts him to this harsh extremity.” We are utterly disgusted that Richard is blaming someone else for what he is responsible with. At the end of the scene, Richard promises to do all he can to ensure Clarence’s release: “Well, your imprisonment shall not be long. I will deliver you or else lie for you..”. Again we see that Richard is a very cruel person, and feels no guilt in deceiving others and lying through his teeth. As soon as Clarence leaves, Richard shows his true side, “Go, tread the path that though shalt ne’er return…” These words symbolise Clarence would die, and never return to that place again. We once more are show that Richard has no conscience and no morals at all.
In the next scene, Lord Hastings, a faithful supporter of the house of York, yet opposed to Queen Elizabeth and the rest of her family passes on the news of the King’s illness to Richard: “NO news so bad abroad as this at home: The king is sickly, weak and melancholy, and his physicians fear him mightily..” In front of Hastings, Richard acts as if this is a disappointment and tragedy, “Now by Saint John, that news is bad indeed...” Although, we know that to Richard this really isn’t a tragedy, and as soon as Hastings leaves, Richard reveals his real feelings: “He cannot live, I hope, and must not die till George be packed with post-horse up to haven.” This means that although he wants Edward to die, he doesn’t want him to die before Clarence, this is so he can turn Edward against Clarence, so he chooses Richard to become king after his death. Richard then reveals his plans to marry Henry VI’s daughter-in-law Anne, “For then I’ll marry Warwick’s youngest daughter. What though I killed her husband and her father?” The audience once more sees the ruthless side of Richard, not caring who dies so he gets his way, leaving the audience utterly disgusted.
At the start of the next scene we see Anne mourning over the corpse of her husband Henry VI. Shakespeare uses this Anne’s opening speech to emphasise Anne’s grief and anger towards Richard for the loss of her husband and also father in law King Henry VI. The length and detail of Anne’s description of her feels also make us interested and perhaps sceptical as to whether Richard can succeed in his intention to marry Anne – and our admiration when he does, by the end of the same scene, is also therefore increased. Shakespeare choosing to tell us Anne’s feelings before Richard seducing her, leaves the audience even more disgusted as we know her feelings of contempt towards Richard, after she is seduced! Our sympathy towards Anne escalates as we hear her thoughts. We see her self-pitying herself here: “To her the lamentations of poor Anne, wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughtered son, stabbed by the selfsame hand that made these wounds.” As well as our sympathy escalating, Anne’s anger towards Richard escalates through her opening speech. She uses powerful repetition in the quote: “OH, cursed be the hand that made these holes, cursed the heart that had the heart to do it, cursed the blood that let this blood from hence.” This quote makes the task of seduction seem impossible, and our fascination is being increased as we don’t see how Richard would be able to succeed. Towards the end of her opening speech, there is dark dramatic irony, where Anne says “If ever he have wife, let her be made more miserable by the death of him.” Anne does not know that Richard plans on making her his wife, leaving us sympathising with Anne even more.
When Richard enters the room, a fast paced stichomythia begins immediately, showing us Richard’s outstanding patience with Anne, even whilst Anne is insulting him harshly. Whilst Anne curses Richard, he replies with only compliments. When Edward’s wounds begin to bleed, Anne calls Richard a “lump of foul deformity” and says, “’tis thy presence that exhales this blood” She says the only reason Edward is bleeding is because the killer has entered the room. Her powerful metaphor of disgust makes us seem it is surely impossible to woo someone with so much hatred. When Anne insults Richard with bitter sarcasm: “Oh, wonderful, when devils tell the truth!” he replies back, twisting her remarks flirtatiously, “More wonderful when angels are so angry.” Shakespeare uses Richard’s power with words to show us how is still light, and Richard may still become successful in his mission to too Anne. The most powerful use of stichomythia is when Anne says Richard is “unfit for any place but hell”, and Richard remarks, he is fit for one other place, “Your bedchamber.” Richard is very daring, and audacious. He has chosen his words for wisely, playing with Anne. Richard then takes an even bigger gamble, offering Anne a sword to kill him, and when she resists, offering to kill himself is she gives him the command. “Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword, which if though please to hind in this true breast…” Richard is pretending to be vulnerable, and begins a turning point for Anne. The audience once more, despite being in utter disgust towards Richard, cannot help but to be amazed at his sheer daringness. Once Anne hesitates, Richard knows he is nearing success.. Soon, Anne despite admitting she fears Richard is lying: “I fear me both are false.”, she still accepts his request for her to return to his house, and finishes the scene with saying “With all my heart, and much it joys me, too, to see you are become so penitent.” These words show a strong juxtaposition from the beginning of the scene, where Anne showed great disgust towards this man who killed her husband-to-be and father-in-law. Richard’s way with words seem to have overcome Anne.
In the next scene King Edward’s wife, Elizabeth and her family, the Woodvilles, discuss the dying King and also her believe that Richard hates her. She is fearful of what the future holds for her after he husband’s death and anticipates a power struggle with Richard. The moment Richard enters he makes his counter attack: “They do me wrong, and I will not endure it.” He acts as if he is the victim, and it is his turn to defend himself. He then acts as if he had been falsely condemned because he “cannot flatter and look fair, smile in men’s faces, smooth, deceive and cog.” His words are completely ironic, as we know for a fact that he can deceive others! Richard is lying through is teeth, and we the audience, are completely in shock, once more. Richard then begins to ask rhetorical questions, “When have I injured thee? When done thee wrong? Or thee? Or thee? Or any of your faction?” He shows fake outrage, and a sense of injustice, whereas it is him, and only him who is doing the injustice. Richard, having succeeded in appearing as the victim, then goes on to insult Elizabeth: “She may help you to many fair preferments, and then deny her aiding hand therein and lay those honours on your high desert.” In other words he is calling her a whore, in front of her own family. He does not stop there, but continues to be rude to her, “What, marry, may she? Marry with a king, a bachelor, and a handsome stripling too. I wis your grandma had a worser match.” Elizabeth, no longer able to bear the insults, leaves, saying she would rather “be a country servant maid, than a great queen with this condition. We are once more appaled at the lengths Richard would go to, to reach his goal. No longer are we sympathetic towards him, but completely outraged.
Queen Margaret the widow of Henry VI enters, she acts as a chorus, voicing out the opinions of all others. Margaret, in a mini-soliloquy, says “And lessened be that small, God I beseech him. Thy honour, state, and seat is due to me.” Margaret feels responsible to deal with Richard, and threatens to tell the King of his wrong-doings. She then goes on to curse him in an embodiment of evil: “Out, devil. I do remember them too well. Though kill’dst my husband, Henry, in the Tower, and Edward, my poor son, at Tewkesbury.” We look up to this character, as she seems to say to Richard what our exact thoughts are, she is like the voice of justice. Margaret, goes on to curse Richard even more, she says “On thee, the troubler of the poor world’s peace. The worm of conscience still begnaw they soul.” In other words saying that Richard would not be able to live with what he’s done. This metaphor for being eaten away by guilt is very powerful, cursing him with the agony of his very own conscience. She then uses diabolical imagery to describe Richard, “Though elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog, though that wast sealed in they nativity, the salve of nature and the son of hell.” These curses are extremely dark, and are almost as if they are coming from a witch. This leaves us shocked as the harshness of the curses, but also impressed that somebody is finally standing up to Richard, voicing out our own opinion.
The final scene shows Clarence in the Tower, describing his nightmare about how his escape by boat was foiled by Richard pushing him overboard. This is extremely ironic, as he doesn’t know Richard is his enemy, but is yet foreseeing his own future. Our sympathy for Clarence increases after hearing this, and he suddenly seems a lot more innocent than we had previously thought. When the murderers arrive, Clarence, ironically tells the murderers that Richard would in fact reward them if they did not kill him, “If you do love my brother, hate not me… If you are hired for meed, go back again, and I will send you to my brother Gloucester, who shall reward you better for my life than Edward will for tidings of my death.” Our sympathy for Clarence then increases once more, but this time ten-fold, we see a great contrast between him and Richard. Even after the murderers tell him that Richard is his enemy: “You are deceived. Your brother Gloucester hates you.”, Clarence still does not believe them, “Oh, no, he loves me, and he holds me dear.” One of the murderers hesitates for a second saying “What shall we do?”, but the other murderer convinces him to continue: “No. ‘Tis cowardly and womanish.” As Clarence begs for mercy, he drowned in stabbed countless times, then droned in a barrel of wine. Our anger towards Richard increases after seeing this cold blooded murder of his own brother. We realise that Richard truly will not let anyone or anything stop him in his path to becoming King.
Despite having great sympathy for Richard at the beginning of the act, as it continued, my sympathy for him went downhill. I have seen Richard as a ruthless murdered and manipulative character who would destroy anything and anyone in his path to the throne, and yet not feel a single bit guilty. In the rest of the play, I can expect to see Richard continuing to destroy anything in his path, but without the need to to act as much. He had succeeded in destroying his brother, the King, and now all he had to do was win over the country, which with his skill with words would not be difficult. I have great sympathy for Richard’s victims, all of whom were unsuspecting, and were stabbed in the back, literally and metaphorically. Whilst others may feel Richard had a bad childhood, and was just another person, following a dream, I must disagree. Richard could have fulfilled his mission without using such ruthfulness, without murdering countless unsuspecting people, without creating lies and deceit, spreading rumours, and falsely turning members of the same family against each other. I feel the key strategy used by Shakespeare that has most shaped by reaction to Richard, was Richard’s skill with words, the way he could twist anything anyone said, in favour of himself. Without this skill, Richard would not have won countless verbal battles in the Act, which were an important contribution to his path to the throne.