Richard III Speech - HSC Assessment

THE TASK: - Students are to prepare and deliver to the class a speech that addresses the following questions:-

1.     How are Richard 111 (the play) and Looking for Richard (the film) products of the time in which they were created?

2.     What are the similarities and differences between the texts?

3.     Do both texts still have something to offer 21^st Century audiences?

Through the exploration of what it is to be human, William Shakespeare’s play ‘Richard III’ and Al Pacino’s film ‘Looking for Richard’ are both ephemeral products of their time, created for the entertainment of the societal audience. While Shakespeare utilised a range of linguistic techniques like emotive language, symbolism and dramatic devices to express his universal ideas, Pacino employed costume, interviews and cinematic devices to exemplify themes such as power, human weakness, morality and guilty conscience that are central to the play. Using film to correlate Shakespeare, the silver screen is a far more effective medium to depict the craft of performance and highlight the power of Shakespeare’s language for a contemporary audience. Whilst ‘looking for’ his contextual society’s perceptions of Shakespeare, Pacino’s goal in making this docu-drama is to ‘reach out to a modern audience’, explaining that the timeless values permeating Richard III, transcend Shakespeare’s contextual world and still coincide with the values we hold today.

One of Shakespeare’s fundamental themes is the pursuit of power, conveyed through the manipulation and deceit that characterises Richard on his ruthless quest to be king. Richard’s heraldic emblem – the boar – symbolises Richard’s insatiable thirst for power, which is intimately told to the audience in his opening soliloquy, as he explains due to his ‘deformed’ (1.1.20) physical appearance, he ‘cannot prove a lover’ (1.1.28) in these peace loving days, thus he is ‘determined to prove a villain’ (1.1.30). In reality Richard III was not deformed, yet this is employed as dramatic device to metaphorically symbolise that Richard is evil, relating to the Elizabethan paradigms of the time. Given that modern society doesn’t associate disabled people as evil, Pacino dons black attire to emphasise the malevolent nature of Richard’s character. As Pacino is filmed, the lighting is divided so that Pacino’s face is half illuminated and half silhouetted, exemplifying the duplicity of his nature and reinforcing one of Shakespeare’s trademark themes – appearance vs. reality. Firstly, as proof of his lust for power, Richard eliminates those who stand before him in the line of the crown by vigilantly plotting their deaths. Richard’s ambition for power causes him to abstain from all morals, as he organises the murder of his brother, Clarence.  Testament to this is his tone of confidence, he says ‘Go tread the path that thou shalt ne’er return’, (1.1.118) as he sends his own brother to his death. ‘Looking for Richard’ also deals with this concept of power, with Pacino further exploring Richard’s actions in the first soliloquy. As Pacino and Kimball rehearse the opening scene, the body positioning of Pacino’s menacing figure standing over the sick King Edward implies he has already taken over control of the kingdom. The display of power is further amplified when he breathes, ‘plots have I laid ... inductions dangerous’ (1.1.32). This part of Pacino’s soliloquy features him softly whispering in front of a camera to further emphasise the resonance of his words. Filming this way creates a more intimate experience for the audience, an advantage of the film medium. The scene of Clarence’s death in the Tower of London begins with a high-angle shot of Clarence dressed in white, sleeping like an angel. Clarence is hence symbolically portrayed as innocent and defenceless; further contrasting Richard’s malign nature. The desire for power serves as a major theme in Richard III, depicted strongly in both the play and film with Richard being the most powerful person in the play from the very beginning. Power also acts as the catalyst for the rise and eventual downfall of Richard, yet Richard’s acquisition of power cannot be attributed solely to his manipulative skills.

One other contributing factor that facilitates Richard’s elevation and success in becoming King is the moral weakness of other characters he manipulates. Richard’s aptitude for accurately identifying and exploiting other characters’ weaknesses allows him to achieve great power. This Machiavellian nature inherent in Richard coincides with refraining from all moral precepts like ‘the end justifies the means’ and ‘politics have no relation to morals’. Richard’s prolific skill with language combined with being able to identify the weaknesses of other allows him to easily subjugate Lady Anne in an impressive stichomythic quarrel to marry her. Anne’s weaknesses are effectively showcased in ‘Looking for Richard’, as Richard finds her vulnerable and looking for someone to save her from her lonesome situation. She appears weak in her scene with Richard, choosing not to harm him; even when he urges to do so and not resisting the ring Richard places on her finger. The scene cuts to Richard exclaiming, ‘Ha!’ (1.2.243) signifying his victory at ‘was ever woman in this humor won?’ (1.2.233) Pacino also adds an element of sexual attraction between the two of them as they kiss. This would not have been accepted in Elizabethan context, but added to the film to illustrate how paradigms have changed regarding to displays of public affection in our modern society. Pacino’s doco-drama also takes the emphasis off Richard as the master orator and instead glorifies Shakespeare’s playwright. A detailed explanation of iambic pentameter is discussed and a number of vox populi videos indicate everyday people recognise the genius in Shakespeare’s words, with one man saying, ‘we should speak like Shakespeare’. These and other vox pop videos are employed by Pacino as he looks for society’s perceptions of Shakespeare. Another human weakness in Richard III is greed, which is prevalent in the murdering of the Princes. Tyrell does not hesitate at the notion of murdering King Richard’s young nephews, unlike Buckingham, yet is motivated by promised riches. Buckingham was also seduced by the promise of land and great wealth if he worked alongside Richard, yet he too had a breaking point. Shakespeare’s contextual audience would’ve been familiar with morality plays performed during the Elizabethan era. These plays introduce characters as temptations, as such; a character that was the vice would tempt other characters and exploit their human weaknesses. Richard compares himself to the vice when he says, ‘thus, like the formal Vice’ (3.1.82), indicating that to some extent, this is a morality play with human weakness as a significant theme. While Pacino doesn’t reveal knowledge on the morality plays in his documentary, moral limits are discussed with Barbara Everett quoting, ‘nobody can love the king beyond the degree ... of their own goodness.’ As Richard tests his subjects, the morality of different characters is stretched as he ‘finds out the point beyond which people won’t go,’ until they find the courage to leave him. Just like conscience eventually took hold in Buckingham’s thoughts, a guilty conscience can also have a defining effect on how a person can react.

Out of all of the numerous characteristics of human nature Shakespeare delved upon in Richard III, none are more compelling or personal than the human conscience. Exemplified in the scene of the two murderer’s irresolution to kill Clarence, ‘dregs of conscience’ (1.4.114) between the two are juxtaposed when they argue over morality. While one is steadfast on getting the job done, the other needs incentive to do the ‘bloody deed’ (1.4.255). The erratic murderer then fathoms that conscience ‘makes a man a coward,’ resolving to murder Clarence. Conscience is also vaguely implied regarding Richard on the eve of battle with Richmond. After the visitation of ghosts, Richard’s power and strength of mind come to an end as he suffers pangs of conscience. While drastically collecting his thoughts as he wakes, he blabbers his inner most thoughts revealing his wavering mind, ‘o coward conscience, how dost thou affect me!’ (5.3.183) and regret for his heartless actions, ‘is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am’ (5.3.188). Contemplating this he adds, ‘I am a villain,’ (5.3.195) with which he concludes his revelation with ‘there is no creature loves me, / And if I die no soul will pity me’ (5.3.204-205). This last quote accentuates the terrible consequences of suppressing your humanity for power. Pacino downplays this scene as ghosts are typically irrelevant concepts in our modern culture. He does however play Richard as having nightmares of all the victims he has murdered in his plot to become King. This is portrayed exclusively as a guilty conscience yet is briefly looked over to cut to the next day’s climatic battle.

While William Shakespeare’s play Richard III was particularly relevant to the contextual audience of his time and a product of the Elizabethan time period, Al Pacino’s film ‘Looking for Richard’ is a more accessible version of the Shakespeare’s original text for a contemporary audience, proving that they are both products of the time in which it was created. The two texts were performed using effective mediums relevant to the era, and though the methods of entertainment have changed, Shakespeare’s universal messages remain the same. Similarities between the two texts include human traits of desire for power and status, human weaknesses, morality and conscience. While Shakespeare masterpiece showcases depth in language relating to word use, symbolism and imagery, Pacino’s film reinforces the key values inherent in Richard III through symbolism, interviews and cinematic techniques. Thus, both texts still offer universal values of what it means to be human to 21st century audiences.

1522 words, 12 En Adv.