Conscience And Self Reliance Document Transcript

1. Shakespeares Richard the III on Conscience: Innocence Is Never Enough King Edward IV of England has been placed on the throne due to the actions of his brother, Richard. After Edwards coronation in the Great Hall, Richard contemplates the throne, before advancing towards the audience and then addressing them, delivering a speech that outlines his physical deformities, such as a shriveled arm, hunched back, uneven legs, effeminate hair, and large nose. He goes on to describe his jealousy over his brothers rise to power in contrast to his lowly position. Richard dedicates himself to task and plans to frame his brother, George, Duke of Clarence, for assassination, and have him sent to prison at the Tower of London. Having confused and deceived the King, Richard proceeds with his plans and Clarence is murdered, drowned in a butt of wine. Richard goes on to woo and seduces the Lady Anne and though she hates him for killing her husband, father, and father-in-law, she cannot resist and ends up marrying him. Richard then orchestrates disorder in the court, fuelling rivalries, and setting the court against the Queen consort, Elizabeth. The King, weakened by exhaustion, appoints his brother, Richard, as Lord Protector, and then dies. Edwards son, soon to become Edward V, is met by Richard whilst en route to London. Richard has the young Kings entourage arrested and executed, and forces the young King along with his younger brother into chains at the Tower of London. With all obstacles now removed, Richard enlists the help of his cousin Buckingham to alter his public image, and to become popular with the people. In doing so, Richard becomes the peoples first choice to become the new King. The entire country is successfully seduced by Richard. With this new power, Richard orders young his two cousins, Edward and the Duke of York, killed at the Tower of London. Buckingham had aided Richard on the agreement of being given a title and a land grant, but balks at the idea of murdering the two princes, so Richard asks a nobleman, Sir James Tyrrell, to perform the evil deed. On requesting his earldom at Richards coronation, Buckingham is later met with Richards response: Im not in the giving vein today! Buckingham then fears for his life and, along with others, rebels against Richards rule. Richard, now fearful due to his dwindling popularity, takes to war, and Richards Yorkists prepare to battle Henry of Richmonds Lancastarians at Bosworth Field. Before the battle, Richard is haunted by the ghosts of all those he has killed in his bloody ascent to the throne, and he wakes screaming. But Richard easily composes himself, striding out to plan the battle for his generals, and gives his motivational speech to his forces: Conscience is but a word that cowards use, devised at first to keep the strong in awe! Conscience avaunt! March on! Join bravely! Let us to it pell mell. If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell! The two forces engage in battle, with the Lancastarians having the upper hand. Lord Stanley, whose loyalties had been questionable for some time, betrays Richard, and allies himself with Henry. Richard sees this and rushes out to fight Henry. However, Richard is knocked off his horse, loses his cherished crown and is soon lost in the battle, searching desperately for Henry. He lets forth his immortal cry: A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! Richard then spots the treacherous Lord Stanley, and engages him in one on one combat. Before a victor can emerge, the Lancastarian troops charge Richard and fatally wound him. Richard convulses in several spasms and offers his sword to the sky before dying. Stanley orders Richards body to be taken away, and then finds Richards crown in a thorn bush. He then proceeds to offer it to Henry, leaving the crown of England in safe hands once again. Page 1 of 5

2. Richards successful climb to power in this play is not simply a tribute to his own skill; it is also a manifestation of the moral weaknesses of others in the play. Richards victims are not simply innocent dupes outwitted by an irresistible DevilMachiavel. Again and again, we see that they simply fail to recognize what they are confronted with and, even when they do sense what Richard is doing, for various reasons they evade the moral issue. The result is that we are forced to recognize here that Richards success depends upon the refusal of others to stand up to him and what he represents. This play thus initiates what we are to witness again and again in Shakespearean drama: the point that evil succeeds in this world because of the moral complicity of others. Early in this play, Richard plots the killing of Clarence. When the murderers arrive at the prison where Clarence is held, they present their pass to the head officer of the prison, Brackenbury, who has just shared an intensely moving scene with Clarence in which the latter has made clear to all the intense suffering he is going through. Brackenbury is now faced with a choice: Should he let the murderers in to kill Clarence or not? His answer is significant. He says, as he reads over the commission, I will not reason what is meant hereby, Because I will be guiltless of the meaning (1.4.89-90). Notice carefully what this is saying. Brackenbury will not pause to reflect upon what is going on (and will thus not have to act upon any such reflection), because he wants to preserve his innocence. But he knows perfectly well what is going to happen. This is a moral evasion of great magnitude. Because of it, Clarence dies, Richard enjoys another success, and thusly confirms his strategy. Brackenbury may think this evasion makes him innocent; quite clearly it does not. Richards successful murder of Clarence and what follows thus stem to a large extent from Brackenbury failure to act. No decision is a decision. Earlier we have seen a similar incident in the wooing of Lady Anne. She has every reason to recognize Richard for what he truly is. After all, he has murdered her father-in-law and her husband and helped to kill her father. She is in the midst of mourning for the dead Henry VI. And yet within a few moments she has capitulated and given him encouragement to continue his courtship of her. This transformation provides Richard with his first success, and he is elated by it. It confirms that he is right to have set out on the evil journey he has undertaken. Why does Anne so suddenly capitulate? That we can only know clearly if we see the scene acted out, but it seems that she has given into Richards flattery and perhaps sex appeal (she tells us later in the play that she had grown grossly captive to his honeyed words). There is no force involved here, other than the force of Richards personality. Confronted with Richard, Anne is unable to maintain her strong rejection of him. Admittedly his tactics are brilliant (and very dangerous to him personally since he risks death). But he judges her weakness superbly and brings her, not simply to the edge of an emotional collapse, but to be his wife. Richard III details the rise and fall of Richard, duke of Gloucester during the English War of the Roses, a dynastic struggle between the rival noble houses of Lancaster and York for control of the English monarchy that raged between 1455 and 1485. Richard is an ego weak person because his behavior is controlled by his drives, which is demonstrated when he commands to murder his two young nephews without showing any pangs of conscience. During his entire childhood, the Richard never had a chance to identify with someone on which to model his own moral standards. In the drama, Richards mother shows what she thinks of her son by using every chance to express how ashamed she is about Richard being her son. The same damage could have been done by using every chance to express how perfect he was both would have built a free-standing self-esteem without any connection to reality. Stories like this significantly deepen our understanding of the way political evil manifests itself in

the world and the reasons for its frequent success. And this becomes a major theme in many Shakespeare plays: in this world you have to keep your wits about you; innocence is never enough. Purity of conscience without courageous action and an intelligent sense of what is going on around one does not leave one blameless or free from harm. Standing up against evil in the world is everyones responsibility. Page 2 of 5