Richard III how is he repulsive and impressive

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

The Genre of Richard III is a History play and a Tragedy. Richard III is the last play of four that Shakespeare wrote about English history. However it is seen also a Tragedy as It is ‘A story of exceptional calamity leading to the death of a man of high estate’ (Quote A C Bradley.) Richard III is about a deformed central character (Richard) who is 3rd in line to the throne and who, due to rejection by woman has turned into a villain. He plans to kill the king and his brother in order to become king hoping that a rise in status will make him more attractive to women and feed Richard’s desire for power.

The main character Richard is very dramatic and uses very emotive language. ‘Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer.’ Shakespeare uses a large number of rhetorical devices to portray Richard. He is very ironic and often speaks using a lot of dramatic irony ‘Alack my lord the fault is none of yours’ Here Shakespeare uses dramatic irony as the audience know the fault is Richard’s but Clarence doesn’t. Richard is also seen as the Anti-hero as in a normal play the hero is the saviour, the man the woman fall for. However in Richard III the character of the hero is reversed, ‘Since I cannot prove a lover, I shall prove a villain’ Here Richard is the opposite of what a hero should be. Richard is also Machiavellian character, A Machiavel is “one who views politics as amoral and that by any means, however unscrupulous, can justifiably be used to achieve power” we can see Richard fits this definition as in order to achieve his goals he must use cunning (deceive his peers) manipulation (manipulate people like Clarence to prevent suspicion of him.) He also represents The Vice as he is deceitful (toward Clarence.)

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In Shakespeare’s time there wasn’t a wide variety of make up or any special effects. Instead of effect and lavish sets Shakespeare used words to portray emotions and feelings. Shakespearian make up couldn’t portray Richard’s physicality the way he wanted therefore the words had to show this perfectly. Richard hates his own form. Shakespeare uses a tri-colon as a device to emphasize Richard’s deformities: ‘Deformed, Unfinished, sent before my time,’ these three strong descriptions of his appearance show the audience that he is disgusting and vile in his appearance. Shakespeare shows the audience Richard is unattractive and that his deformities ...

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