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Study
Guide: Richard III
Below is a study guide designed to
enrich your view of Shakespeare's work. Try to answer these questions as
best you can... you may realize something you didn't before! |
1. Act I, scene 1 does a huge amount of work.
- Why is George, Duke of Clarence, going to prison?
- Note also who is being released at the same time.
Who do both believe to be their enemies?
- Who is their real enemy?
2. 1.1.1-2 sets up a summertime world of merrymaking
and love in England under the reign of Edward IV.
- How does Richard see himself in this world?
- Note all the language of evil, sickness, carrion
beasts, and poison being spoken in this world as this play progresses. Why?
- What is really happening in this world? To whom
does most of this language attach itself?
- What does all this plus the increasing sickness
of the king tell you about the true condition of this world?
3. Why does Anne fall for Richard in 1,2?
- Why does she not kill him, given the chance?
- Note his extraordinary charisma and energy in 1,1
and 1,2.
- How does this affect us as audience?
- Who do you want to see triumph in this scene?--
4. Notice how the play never lets us forget Richard's
headcount; all the women constantly list his victims. Notice also how the three
women mourn together in 4,4.
- Why does Shakespeare allow them to do this?
- What function do women serve in this play?
- How much power and of what nature do they possess?
5. Note the details of George of Clarence's dream.
- What does this dream really mean?
- Why does he see such beauty underwater?
- How do these images relate to the state of the
kingdom in Act One?
- How does George's dream relate to the behavior
of the murderers?
- Note that there are other assassins in this play.
- How do they all compare to each other?
- Who are they all and whom do they kill?
6. Look at the scramble of logic in 1,4 to "justify"
the killing of Clarence.
- Why so much talk and what does it tell you about
the world of this play?
- Note that the next scene (2,1) is about enemies
swearing forgiveness to each other. How do the events of 1,4 affect your reading
of this following scene?
7. In 3,1, Richard compares himself to the character
of Iniquity from the morality plays.
- How does he resemble this stock character of these
medieval plays?
- How do we react to him in Acts 1-3?
8. Why does the widowed Queen place herself and her
son Richard of York in sanctuary?
- How does the boy end up leaving it?
- Whose idea is this?
- Who are Richard's henchmen and primary supporters?
9. Note the parallels between 1,2 and 4,4.
- What has changed?
- Why are we less eager to see Richard win the woman
in 4,4?
- Note Richard's confusion while giving orders in
4,4.
- What has happened to him?
- Why does Richard's fortune shift in this act?
10. In Act Five, we see alternating scenes with the
two war leaders.
- How do they compare in speech and behavior?
11. Note the dreadful fates of the children in this
play:
- Rutland
- Edward (son of Henry VI and Margaret)
- Edward V (son of Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth)
- Richard of York
- the children of George
- Duke of Clarence
- What happens to this world (or any world, for
that matter) when its children are killed or mistreated?
- How does the hostage situation of George Stanley
relate to this?
- Why is the protection of his life symbolic?
12. Note the cyclic nature of this play--the "glorious
summer" following the "winter of...discontent" mentioned by Richard
in 1,1 sinks into a bloodbath in this story, only to be replaced by the peace
proclaimed by Richmond in the last words of the play.
- What does the presence of this cycle tell us as
audience about history?