Frankie Rose

Shakespeares Villains
9/11/2015
Adam Hooks

Research Exercise Week 3

vouchsafe v.: 1: To confer or bestow (some thing, favour, or benefit) on a person
2: To give, grant, or bestow in a gracious or condescending manner
a1616: Shakespeare, Cymbeline I haue assayld her with Musickes, but she
vouchsafes no notice
2.b: With indirect object. Also (quot. 1595), to make grant of something
1608: Shakespeare, King Lear On my knees I beg, that youll vouchsafe me
raiment, bed and food
2.d: to deign or condescend to give (a word, answer, etc.) in reply or by way of
friendly notice

I have chosen to research the word vouchsafe. It appears a total of three

times in Richard III all three occurrences of which appear in the second scene of the
play. In this scene we witness Richards valiant (if we can call it that) attempt to woo
Lady Anne. He says:
More wonderful, when angels are so angry.
Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these supposed crimes to give me leave
By circumstance but to acquit myself (I.ii.78-81)
to which Lady Anne wittily volleys:
Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man,
Of these known evils but to give me lave
By circumstance to curse thy cursed self (I.ii.82-84).
If we attend solely to the first definition given by the OED for vouchsafe to
confer or bestow on a person we get a clear, albeit boring, explanation for
Richards speech. He is asking to be forgiven by Lady Anne for the supposed
crimes he has committed. If we accept only this definition, Lady Annes response
might seem a little dramatic and rude even though Richard has actually
committed the crimes hes addressing. This is acceptable; however, it is not nearly
as interesting as when we delve deeper in to the definitions cited in the OED. Take

the first part of the second definition to give, grant, or bestow in a gracious or
condescending manner. The word condescending stands out to me in this particular
definition. If we read this speech with this definition in mind, Lady Annes response
makes much more sense. Richard using language to subtly condescend to Lady
Anne without others knowledge would make her very angry as we can see in her
response. With this new definition in mind, the actual meaning of the speech
changes no longer is Richard trying just to woo Lady Anne he is trying to woo her
and insult her at the same time. This clues us into Richards character much more
than when only thinking through the lens of the first definition. The third definition I
found to be relevant is perhaps the most interesting of all that vouchsafe can
mean to deign or condescend to give (a word, answer, etc.) in reply or by way of
friendly notice. With this definition in mind, Richards focus is not to receive
forgiveness it is to condescend to Lady Anne. The difference between this
definition and the one I cited before is that the condescension is the focus of this
definition, not the forgiveness. With these three slightly different interpretations in
mind, we can start to predict how Richard will react in various circumstances. Since
this is the beginning of the play, we can assume Richards climb to the crown will be
a slow one; therefore, we can guess that Richard will be employing more of his evil,
subtly insulting manner throughout his time on the stage.