How far would you say Shakespeare creates sympathy in the minds of the audience for Richard's victims?

Authors Avatar

        

How far would you say that Shakespeare creates sympathy in the minds of the audience for Richard’s victims?

Shakespeare’s play, Richard III, written in the 16th Century, is a tragedy revolving around Richard of Gloucester’s ascent to the throne of England. Throughout the play, the plot centres around the murders orchestrated by Richard, of several important characters including Lady Anne, George Duke of Clarence and the two princes in the tower. He is also indirectly responsible for the fleeing of one of his closest friends and political ally, Buckingham. Shakespeare deals with each of these characters quite differently, encouraging the audience to be more sympathetic towards some victims rather than others.

It must be remembered that this play was effectively a dramatisation of history which had occurred only few centuries previously in the period 1471-1485. It could also be considered a sequel to three other plays that Shakespeare had written about the Monarchy of England, and he would have been aware that some of his audiences would have come with pre-conceived ideas about the characters in this play. The effects of any play depend on its production- different productions will engage different sympathies from an audience. A constant factor may be the plot, theme and language that the actors use, but also the type of stage, costumes, sound effects, acting styles and delivery of the script may differ and have varying impacts on the audience and the way they perceive the characters.

 In addition, audiences in the 16th century may have lived in poverty and their feelings about their own life situations may have had an impact on feelings towards Richard’s character, and the sympathy they felt towards his victims. This could be viewed as a form of a social comment, which Shakespeare often used in his plays. A Tudor audience was more likely to have accepted that Richard had a vile character as Tudor history had probably depicted him in this way and it was the audience’s ancestors who would have encountered Richard of Gloucester in real life, only a few generations previously. Moreover, a Tudor audience’s view on characters may be more affected by the generally stronger belief in God, and the belief that the most ‘powerful’ candidate should be king, rather than there being a divine right of kings, so a Tudor audience may be more in favour of Richard as he shows that he could use his power to rule, despite the fact it may not be in their best interests.

Although while writing the play, Shakespeare would have thought in depth about how his audiences would perceive his characters, and the impact on their emotions, it is doubtful whether he would have imagined that 4 centuries later, a completely different audience would be watching with interest the same play, but may find it hard to link with the actions of such a cruel character.

The first of Richard’s major victims is his brother Clarence. To begin with, Shakespeare creates a sense of pathos with Clarence. This is because the reason why he has been convicted is due to the naivety of King Edward. Richard has convinced Edward about a prophecy which says ‘G’’ who shall kill King Edward, and therefore Richard implies Clarence, whose name is actually George will be the assassin. Edward arranges for his death in order to avoid this specific prophecy coming true. The audience feel sympathy for Clarence for two reasons; Edward is willing to kill him based on a prophecy and secondly, Richard, his own brother, is willing to set him up for the sole purpose of becoming king, showing no loyalty to even his brother. The fact that Clarence stays loyal to his brothers increases the pathos for his character, as he is unknowingly being faithful to his murderers. A Tudor audience may favour Richard’s decisions as he is doing it with one aim in mind; to become king. However, a 21st Century audience would most likely take a different stand on Richard’s actions, and he would therefore be perceived as ‘treacherous and back-stabbing’. Clarence is clearly unaware of Richard’s infidelity, but the fact that Clarence has faith in him to the end allows an audience to sympathise with him: ‘And I will send you to my brother Gloucester, who shall reward you, better for my life.’ 

Join now!

Clarence also attracts pathos because he is in fact innocent on the count which he is being accused of and knows he is innocent of the crime, despite the fact he has committed other atrocities.  It is his helplessness which makes an audience sympathise with him, and he is clearly perplexed as to why he is being punished:

What is my offence? Where are the evidence that do accuse me?

 The scene with the murderers, act one scene four also emphasises his innocence. The two murderers are discussing how to kill Clarence but it comes obvious to the audience ...

This is a preview of the whole essay