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Richard III
By
William Shakespeare
Set scenes 2008
Assessment Focuses
Your response to Shakespeare in the SAT exam will be assessed according to the following criteria:
AF2
Can I find and quote information effectively?
AF3
Can I read and interpret meaning beyond the obvious?
AF4
Can I explain why writers choose to shape their work in a particular way?
AF5
Can I explain why writers choose to use particular words and sentences?
AF6
Can I explain the writer’s purpose, and how it achieved?
The question on the SAT paper will focus on one of the following:
- Character and motivation
- Ideas, themes and issues
- The language of the text
- The text in performance
Could you be as devious as Richard of Gloucester?
To understand the scenes; we need to understand what kind of a person Richard is. Richard manipulates people, sometimes to gain power, sometimes to get his own way and sometimes for cruel fun.
Imagine you want to be friends with a popular person (A) at school; not because you like them, but because you think that being seen with them will increase your own popularity.
How far will you go to get what you want?
Below is a questionnaire, put a tick next to the answer you think suits your personality!
You know you will bump into (A) in the dinning hall at dinner.
Will you:
- Invent some stories in advance to tell (A) to impress them.
- Stand close to them and hope they notice you.
- Make it up as you go along.
Once you are talking to them would you:
- Tell (A) bad things about their friends to upset them.
- Tell (A) how lucky they are to have such good mates.
- Tell them how much you want to be their friend.
If (A) becomes worried about something will you:
- Pretend to be concerned about (A) and offer your support.
- Let their oldest friends look after them.
- Tell them some jokes.
(A) comes to you unexpectedly with a problem will you:
- Act as if you are deeply interested to gain their trust.
- Listen politely to them and do nothing else.
- Tell them not to worry there’s pizza for dinner.
(A) is very angry and threatening to punch someone do you:
- Calm them down and tell them what to do.
- Go and warn the other person.
- Go to the gym and get some boxing gloves.
(A) seems to think you’re up to something do you:
- Act upset at their lack of trust to gain their sympathy.
- Admit you only want to know them for your own gain.
- Tell them you never liked them anyway.
(A) asks why do you like them anyway? Do you.
- Throw a hissy fit to make (A) feel guilty for asking the question.
- Tell them how great it is to be around them.
- Say it’s because they smell of custard and it’s your favourite.
You want to impress (A) with a story about your hols. Do you:
- Invent the biggest most fantastic story ever.
- Tell them the truth, you went to Skeggi.
- Inform them school is the best holiday and you want to stay forever
Act 1, Scene 2, lines 33 to 186
In this extract from RICHARD III, Richard, here called Gloucester, has decided he needs an acceptable wife to further his chances of becoming King.
His choice of wife is LADY ANNE; unfortunately for him Richard has killed her husband and her father in law. This does not stop Richard who uses his skills of manipulation to pay court to Lady Anne.
Oh, and just to make it more of a challenge, Richard chats her up as she takes her father-in-law’s body to be buried.
Act 1, Scene 2, lines 33 to 186
Enter GLOUCESTER
GLOUCESTER
Stay, you that bear the corse, and set it down. 33
LADY ANNE
What black magician conjures up this fiend,
To stop devoted charitable deeds?
GLOUCESTER
Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul,
I'll make a corse of him that disobeys.
Gentleman
My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass.
GLOUCESTER
Unmanner'd dog! stand thou, when I command:
Advance thy halbert higher than my breast, 40
Or, by Saint Paul, I'll strike thee to my foot,
And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.
LADY ANNE
What, do you tremble? are you all afraid?
Alas, I blame you not; for you are mortal,
And mortal eyes cannot endure the devil.
Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!
Thou hadst but power over his mortal body,
His soul thou canst not have; therefore be gone.
GLOUCESTER
Sweet saint, for charity, be not so curst.
LADY ANNE
Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble us not; 50
For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell,
Fill'd it with cursing cries and deep exclaims.
If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.
O, gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds
Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh!
Blush, Blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood
From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells;
Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural, 60
Provokes this deluge most unnatural.
O God, which this blood madest, revenge his death!
O earth, which this blood drink'st revenge his death!
Either heaven with lightning strike the
murderer dead,
Or earth, gape open wide and eat him quick,
As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood
Which his hell-govern'd arm hath butchered!
GLOUCESTER
Lady, you know no rules of charity, 68
Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.
LADY ANNE
Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man: 70
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
GLOUCESTER
But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
LADY ANNE
O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
GLOUCESTER
More wonderful, when angels are so angry.
Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these supposed-evils, to give me leave,
By circumstance, but to acquit myself.
LADY ANNE
Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man,
For these known evils, but to give me leave,
By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self. 80
GLOUCESTER
Fairer than tongue can name thee, let me have
Some patient leisure to excuse myself.
LADY ANNE
Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make
No excuse current, but to hang thyself.
GLOUCESTER
By such despair, I should accuse myself.
LADY ANNE
And, by despairing, shouldst thou stand excused;
For doing worthy vengeance on thyself,
Which didst unworthy slaughter upon others.88
GLOUCESTER
Say that I slew them not?
LADY ANNE
Why, then they are not dead:
But dead they are, and devilish slave, by thee. 90
GLOUCESTER
I did not kill your husband.
LADY ANNE
Why, then he is alive.
GLOUCESTER
Nay, he is dead; and slain by Edward's hand.
LADY ANNE
In thy foul throat thou liest: Queen Margaret saw
Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood;
The which thou once didst bend against her breast,
But that thy brothers beat aside the point.
GLOUCESTER
I was provoked by her slanderous tongue,
which laid their guilt upon my guiltless shoulders.
LADY ANNE
Thou wast provoked by thy bloody mind. 100
Which never dreamt on aught but butcheries:
Didst thou not kill this king?
GLOUCESTER
I grant ye.
LADY ANNE
Dost grant me, hedgehog? then, God grant me too
Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed!
O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous!
GLOUCESTER
The fitter for the King of heaven, that hath him.
LADY ANNE
He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come.
GLOUCESTER
Let him thank me, that holp to send him thither;
For he was fitter for that place than earth.
LADY ANNE
And thou unfit for any place but hell.
GLOUCESTER
Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it. 110
LADY ANNE
Some dungeon.
GLOUCESTER
Your bed-chamber.
LADY ANNE
I'll rest betide the chamber where thou liest!
GLOUCESTER
So will it, madam till I lie with you.
LADY ANNE
I hope so.
GLOUCESTER
I know so. But, gentle Lady Anne,
To leave this keen encounter of our wits,
And fall somewhat into a slower method,
Is not the causer of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?
LADY ANNE
Thou art the cause, and most accursed effect. 120
GLOUCESTER
Your beauty was the cause of that effect;
Your beauty: which did haunt me in my sleep
To undertake the death of all the world,
So I might live one hour in your sweet bosom.
LADY ANNE
If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide,
These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks.
GLOUCESTER
These eyes could never endure sweet beauty's wreck;
You should not blemish it, if I stood by:
As all the world is cheered by the sun,
So I by that; it is my day, my life. 130
LADY ANNE
Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life!
GLOUCESTER
Curse not thyself, fair creature thou art both.
LADY ANNE
I would I were, to be revenged on thee.
GLOUCESTER
It is a quarrel most unnatural,
To be revenged on him that loveth you.
LADY ANNE
It is a quarrel just and reasonable,
To be revenged on him that slew my husband.
GLOUCESTER
He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband,
Did it to help thee to a better husband.
LADY ANNE
His better doth not breathe upon the earth. 140
GLOUCESTER
He lives that loves thee better than he could.
LADY ANNE
Name him.
GLOUCESTER
Plantagenet.
LADY ANNE
Why, that was he.
GLOUCESTER
The selfsame name, but one of better nature.
LADY ANNE
Where is he?
GLOUCESTER
Here.
(She spitteth at him)
Why dost thou spit at me?
LADY ANNE (1)
Would it were mortal poison, for thy sake!
GLOUCESTER(2)
Never came poison from so sweet a place.
LADY ANNE (3)
Never hung poison on a fouler toad.
Out of my sight! thou dost infect my eyes.
GLOUCESTER (4)
Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine. 150
LADY ANNE (5)
Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead!
GLOUCESTER
I would they were, that I might die at once;
For now they kill me with a living death.
Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears,
Shamed their aspect with store of childish drops:
These eyes that never shed remorseful tear,
No, when my father York and Edward wept,
To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made
When black-faced Clifford shook his sword at him;
Nor when thy warlike father, like a child 160
Told the sad story of my father's death,
And twenty times made pause to sob and weep,
That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks
Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that sad time
My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear;
And what these sorrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never sued to friend nor enemy;
My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing word;
But now thy beauty is proposed my fee, 170
My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to speak.
(She looks scornfully at him)
Teach not thy lips such scorn, for they were made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
Lo, here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword;
Which if thou please to hide in this true bosom.
And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,
I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,
And humbly beg the death upon my knee. 180
(He lays his breast open: she offers at it with his sword)
Nay, do not pause; for I did kill King Henry,
But 'twas thy beauty that provoked me.
Nay, now dispatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward,
But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.
Here she lets fall the sword
Take up the sword again, or take up me.
LADY ANNE
Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death,
I will not be the executioner. 186
Task 1
Richard uses the opposites of the insults Lady Anne uses to confuse her and make her see him in a better light.
Find the words Richard uses after the following insults and explain what Richard’s reply means,
Insult: No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
Quotation 1
“______”
Explanation______
Insult: Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life!
Quotation 2
“______”
Explanation______
Insult: Out of my sight! thou dost infect my eyes.
Quotation 3
“______”
Explanation______
Task 2
Essay style question.
In this scene Gloucester manipulates and confuses Lady Anne so that she will marry him.
Explain how Shakespeare builds the tension in this scene. Consider:
What is happening at the start of the scene.
How Gloucester uses the opposite of what Anne says to confuse her.
Dramatic techniques used by Shakespeare.
The things that Richard has done to Lady Anne’s family.
The excuses he makes up.
TASK 3
Imagine that you are creating a film production of this scene. Draw a storyboard to show how you would film the wooing of Lady Anne. Think about how you would use camera angles, sound effects, costume, setting and lighting to create a tense atmosphere. Write a paragraph explaining your ideas.
Act 4, Scene 4, lines 199 to 342
In the next extract Gloucester is now Richard III, his wife, Lady Anne has died in mysterious circumstances.
Richard is at war to protect his crown
Richard now needs another suitable wife to help him maintain his hold on the throne, he selects his niece Princess Elizabeth and sets about manipulating her mother, Queen Elizabeth, to help him.
Once more Richard has problems; he has murdered Queen Elizabeth’s two young sons, he has murdered her brother-in-law, his own brother! And he has murdered most of her friends.
Once more Richard loves a challenge!
Act 4, Scene 4, lines 199 to 342
KING RICHARD III
Stay, madam; I must speak a word with you.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
I have no more sons of the royal blood
For thee to murder: for my daughters, Richard, 200
They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens;
And therefore level not to hit their lives.
KING RICHARD III
You have a daughter call'd Elizabeth,
Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
And must she die for this? O, let her live,
And I'll corrupt her manners, stain her beauty;
Slander myself as false to Edward's bed;
Throw over her the veil of infamy:
So she may live unscarr'd of bleeding slaughter,
I will confess she was not Edward's daughter.
KING RICHARD III
Wrong not her birth, she is of royal blood. 211
QUEEN ELIZABETH
To save her life, I'll say she is not so.
KING RICHARD III
Her life is only safest in her birth.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
And only in that safety died her brothers.
KING RICHARD III
Lo, at their births good stars were opposite.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
No, to their lives bad friends were contrary.
KING RICHARD III
All unavoided is the doom of destiny.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
True, when avoided grace makes destiny:
My babes were destined to a fairer death,
If grace had bless'd thee with a fairer life. 220
KING RICHARD III
You speak as if that I had slain my cousins.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Cousins, indeed; and by their uncle cozen'd
Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life.
Whose hand soever lanced their tender hearts,
Thy head, all indirectly, gave direction:
No doubt the murderous knife was dull and blunt
Till it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart,
To revel in the entrails of my lambs.
But that still use of grief makes wild grief tame,
My tongue should to thy ears not name my boys 230
Till that my nails were anchor'd in thine eyes;
And I, in such a desperate bay of death,
Like a poor bark, of sails and tackling reft,
Rush all to pieces on thy rocky bosom.
KING RICHARD III
Madam, so thrive I in my enterprise
And dangerous success of bloody wars,
As I intend more good to you and yours,
Than ever you or yours were by me wrong'd!
QUEEN ELIZABETH
What good is cover'd with the face of heaven,
To be discover'd, that can do me good? 240 A
KING RICHARD III
The advancement of your children, gentle lady. B
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads? C
KING RICHARD III
No, to the dignity and height of honour
The high imperial type of this earth's glory. D
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Flatter my sorrows with report of it; F
Tell me what state, what dignity, what honour,
Canst thou demise to any child of mine? G
KING RICHARD III
Even all I have; yea, and myself and all,
Will I withal endow a child of thine; H
So in the Lethe of thy angry soul 250
Thou drown the sad remembrance of those wrongs
Which thou supposest I have done to thee. I
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Be brief, lest that be process of thy kindness
Last longer telling than thy kindness' date. J
KING RICHARD III
Then know, that from my soul I love thy daughter. K
QUEEN ELIZABETH
My daughter's mother thinks it with her soul.
KING RICHARD III
What do you think?
QUEEN ELIZABETH
That thou dost love my daughter from thy soul:
So from thy soul's love didst thou love her brothers;
And from my heart's love I do thank thee for it. 260
KING RICHARD III
Be not so hasty to confound my meaning:
I mean, that with my soul I love thy daughter,
And mean to make her queen of England.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Say then, who dost thou mean shall be her king?
KING RICHARD III
Even he that makes her queen who should be else?
QUEEN ELIZABETH
What, thou?
KING RICHARD III
I, even I: what think you of it, madam?
QUEEN ELIZABETH
How canst thou woo her?
KING RICHARD III
That would I learn of you,
As one that are best acquainted with her humour.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
And wilt thou learn of me?
KING RICHARD III
Madam, with all my heart. 270
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Send to her, by the man that slew her brothers,
A pair of bleeding-hearts; thereon engrave
Edward and York; then haply she will weep:
Therefore present to her--as sometime Margaret
Did to thy father, steep'd in Rutland's blood,--
A handkerchief; which, say to her, did drain
The purple sap from her sweet brother's body
And bid her dry her weeping eyes therewith.
If this inducement force her not to love,
Send her a story of thy noble acts; 280
Tell her thou madest away her uncle Clarence,
Her uncle Rivers; yea, and, for her sake,
Madest quick conveyance with her good aunt Anne.
KING RICHARD III
Come, come, you mock me; this is not the way
To win our daughter.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
There is no other way
Unless thou couldst put on some other shape,
And not be Richard that hath done all this.