How does Shakespeare reveal Richard III's characteristics and skills to be both repulsive and somehow impressive the first Act of the play?

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How does Shakespeare reveal Richard III’s characteristics and skills to be both repulsive and somehow impressive the first Act of the play?

Richard III is a dramatic and historic play by William Shakespeare, set in the 15th century. The play tells us the story of Richard III, and how he disposes of the royal family one by one, so he can become King. Soon after victory against the Scottish, Richard’s father, the king, who was also named Richard, died, leaving Richard’s younger brother Edward as the heir to the throne. Richard who has been waiting for his chance to become King, is angered, and plots a ruthless, but cunning plan to become King. Despite being physically disabled, Richard has the mind of a genius, his ruthless plan will certainly lead him to the throne. The audience has a mixture of reactions to Richard’s character, at first, after hearing how he longs for a women to love him, they would sympathise, but after hearing his ruthless plan and plans to kill his own family with no guilt whatsoever, the audience would certainly be shocked and in disgust towards Richard’s character.

Richard’s opening soliloquy explains his character in detail, resulting in a mixture of first sympathetic and then appalled reactions from the audience, who already have an accurate picture of Richard’s extreme insecurity by the end of his soliloquy. The first sign of Richard’s character is shown in “...He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber/ To the lascivious pleasing of a lute” We see that Richard is embarrassed to be in the presence of women, and is jealous of other men who have sexual relations. The adjective “lascivious”, in particular shows he is very lustful and hung up on sex. In the next quote, “I that am not shaped for sportive tricks/ Nor made to court an amorous looking glass” Shakespeare uses the powerful metaphor “Not shaped for sportive trick” to show he is not physically shaped to have sex. Richard is clearly very self conscious and pities himself for not being as sexually active as other men. Richard, having been born premature felt he was born before was complete, illustrated in the tricolon, “Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time/ Into this breathing would scarce half made up” which shows us Richard’s sense of inferiority, and how he does not feel like a real man. The words, “sent before my time”, tells the audience that Richard was sent to Earth before he was ready, which in fact is true, Richard was born premature. All of a sudden, Richard switches from pitying himself to becoming angry, “since I cannot prove a lower… I am determined to prove a villain.” Richard thinks that if is impossible for him to be loved, then he would become a villain, and practise hate. Richard then starts to show his villainous side, “Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, by drunken prophecies, libel sand dreams / To set my brother Clarence and the king / In deadly hate the one against the other.” This shows the audience that Richard is willing to turn his own father and brother against him, to become King. Shakespeare uses the tricolon, “drunk prophecies, libels at dreams”, to powerful effect, leaving the audience disgusted at Richard’s plan. Richard’s final two lines show his true, ruthless side: “I am subtle, false and treacherous.” This shows us, that Richard actually takes pride in his ability to lie to unsuspecting others. Finally, Richard’s last words show his two-faced character and ability to act, “Dive, thoughts, down to my soul, here Clarence comes.” These words are a powerful personification, leaving the audience shocked and appalled at this traitor.

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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 ...

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