Richard III Act I Study Guide

Name: Character Notes (personalities, relationships, and Richard’s opinion of them)

Richard (Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III)

• Personalities: deceitful (he lies to everyone and makes them feel bad for him), conniving, evil, bored (with no more war he occupies his time with his evil plans), enjoys chaos, self-critical (he sees himself as a deformed mistake)
• Relationships: younger brother of George (Duke of Clarence) and Edward IV
• Richard's Opinion: he believes he is intellectually superior to others, he looks down at others and enjoys wielding them to his desires to fulfil his villainous plans

Clarence (George)

• Personalities: over trusting/naive (in Act 1 Scene 4 he still believes his brother Richard is truthful and is trying to help him, even when confronted with Richard's hired murderers)
• Relationships: middle brother, older than Richard, but younger than Edward IV
• Richard's Opinion: believes he is a fool and is quick to try and murder him and get him out of the way, he doesn't value his life

Anne (Lady Anne)

• Personalities: she speaks her mind (in Act 1 Scene 2 she insults Richard to his face and does not shy away from letting him know what she thinks of him and the things he has done)
• Relationships: widow of Edward (son of  Queen Margaret and the late King Henry VI), later wife to Richard
• Richard's Opinion: believes she is easily fooled because he is able to woo her while standing over the corpse of the King Henry VI, Anne's father-in-law, who he murdered; he believes she will marry him

Queen Elizabeth (formerly the Lady Grey)

• Personalities: blunt and unyielding (in Act 1 Scene 3 she doesn’t shy away from giving Richard a piece of her mind)
• Relationships: Edward's (IV, brother of Richard) wife, mother of Prince Edward (V) and Richard (Duke of York)
• Richard's Opinion: he doesn't see her as being an obstacle in his plans and he brushes off her insults and tries to win her over with his deceiving kindness

Queen Margaret (Margaret of Anjou)

• Personalities: very frank (in Act 1 Scene 3 she curses both Richard and Queen Elizabeth for thinking they could take power that she believes is rightfully hers)
• Relationships: widow of King Henry VI, mother of Edward (Anne's husband)
• Richard's Opinion: he sees her as an old woman who doesn't threaten his plans and simply doesn't give a thought to her (aside) comments about him

HONORS ONLY:

Literary Analysis: Read the following scenes closely. Study the persuasive strategy that Richard employs to win Anne over (what arguments work on her?) Also, identify at least five examples of figurative language in the text (alliteration, simile, irony, etc.). For each of these scenes also consider how Richard convinces others of his good intentions. For each passage, write a 6-7 sentence analysis explaining what you discover.

Persuasive Strategies to Win Anne Over (Do they work?)

• Lie: He begins by saying that he didn't kill Anne's husband or his father; this strategy fails because they both know it is a lies
• Truth: He admits that her did kill Edward and Henry VI; also doesn't do much to win her over, it makes her a little less mad because he isn't lying anymore
• Flattery / Moving the Blame: He claims it was her beauty that made him kill Edward, so that he could be her husband (a better husband who loves her more) and that because of this his death was her fault); doesn't really work
• Suicide: He gives her a knife, puts it in her hands and points the blade into his chest, giving her the opportunity to enact revenge and kill him herself; works the best because she refuses to be the one to kill him, showing she can't hate him that much
• He Put a Ring on it / Showed Remorse: He places a ring on her finger and vaguely said he felt bad about the deaths; this works well, she enjoys him showing remorse and bids him farewell

Figurative Language Examples

1. Alliteration - "And made her widow to a woeful bed?" (Act 1, Scene 2, 269)
2. Similie - "As all the world is cheered by the sun, / So I by that (Anne's beauty). It is my day, my life." (Act 1, Scene 2, 139 - 140)
3. Irony - "If you are hired for meed, go back again, / And I will send you to my brother Gloucester. / Who shall reward you better for my life, / Than Edward will for tidings of my death." (Act 1, Scene 4, 235 - 238)
4. Personification - "Or earth gape open wide and eat him quick, / As thou dost swallow up this good king's blood." (Act 1, Scene 2, 69 - 70)
5. Metaphore - "O, wonderful, when devils tell the truth!" (Act 1, Scene 2, 77)

1. Act I, scene ii, lines 35-240

• Richard tries to convince Anna of his good intentions through various tactics (listed above in the "Persuasive Strategies to Win Anne Over"), with the ultimate objective to get her to eventually marry him.

2. Act I, scene ii, lines 247-284 (monologue)

• In this monologue Richard reveals his true feelings about Anna, and laughs at how easily she was wooed and won by his false front.

3. Act I scene iii, lines 107-322

• To win over Queen Elizabeth and Queen Margaret, and convince them of his good intentions, Richard resorts to flattery and jesting.

4. Act I scene iv, lines 101-297

• Richard had convinced his brother Clarence of his good intentions so much that Clarence couldn't believe that it was him who had hired the murderers.

Study Questions:

1. Why has Richard decided to be the villain? List three possible reasons.

• He is bored because the war is over
• He was happy in the seriousness of war, but the peace is too silly for his taste
• Because of his deformity he believes he cannot be a lover, so he will be a villain

2. Cite two lines that exemplify Shakespeare’s exaggerated description of Richard's appearance?

• "Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time," (Act 1, Scene 1, 20)
• "And so lamely and unfashionable / That dogs bark at me as I halt by them" (Act 1, Scene 1, 22- 23)

3. How does Anne feel about Richard at the beginning of their courtship?  What particularly nasty things does Anne say to Richard in the scene?

• At the beginning of their courtship Anne has an intense hatred for Richard because he killed her husband, Edward, and his father, Henry VI.
• Particularly nasty things Anne says to Richard in the scene (Act 1, Scene 2):
• "O, wonderful, when devils tell the truth!" (77)
• "Vouchsafe, diffuse infection of <a> man," (82)
• "Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make / No excuse current but to hang thyself." (87 - 88)
• "Never hung poison on a fouler toad. / Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes." (161 - 162)

4. What is Clarence’s response when he is told that Richard is the one that ordered his death?

• "It cannot be, for he bewept my fortune, / And hugged me in his arms, and swore with sobs / That he would labor my delivery." (Act 1, Scene 4, 253 - 255)  
• Clarence doesn't believe that his brother Richard, who had just sworn to help him when he had seen him off, could be the one who hired these murderers.

5. What is the significance of Margaret’s curses in the play? What does she say will become of Richard and those that get in his way? Why do you think Shakespeare includes the scene?

• The significance of Margaret's curses in the play are that they prophesy what is to come. Margaret says that Richard and those that get in his way will die. I think Shakespeare includes this scene in order to give the audience / reader a hint of what is to come, to keep them engaged (similar to how he uses the Fates prophecies in Henry IV).

6. Richard III has been said to invite readers on a “moral holiday.” Describe one way the reader/ viewer is already complicit in Richard’s crimes.

• The reader is already complicit in Richard's crimes because in his side tangents to the audience / reader, in which he divulges his evil plans, he makes us his confidants, making us complicit when Richard carries out the plans he told us of and hurts those we could have warned if we were able to/

Quotes: For each of the following quotes, indicate WHO said the quote and its SIGNIFICANCE.

1. “But I that am not shaped for sportive tricks, / Nor made to court an amorous looking glass; / I, that am rudely stamped and want love’s majesty

• Said by: Richard (Act 1, Scene 1,  14 - 16)
• Significance: He is bringing to our attention his deformity and how it restricts him from love and enjoying a playful and carefree life.

2. “Simple, plain Clarence, I do love thee so / That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven”

• Said by: Richard (Act 1, Scene 1, 122 - 123)
• Significance: Richard comments about how he loves his simple brother Clarence and how soon his plan will easily trich Clarence and culminate in his death and him moving on to heaven,

3. “Look, how this ring encompasseth finger; / Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart. / Wear both of them for both of them are thine.”

• Said by: Richard (Act 1, Scene 2, 222 - 224)
• Significance: This is Richard's final strategy to will over Anne, giving her a ring and his heart, to further his plan in which they marry.

4. “Out devil! I do remember them too well: / Though killed'st my husband Henry in the Tower, / And Edward my poor son, at Tewkesbury.”

• Said by: Queen Margaret (Act 1, Scene 3, 122 - 124)
• Significance: Queen Margaret is showing her disdain for Richard because he killed both her husband Henry and her son Edward.

5. “A bloody deed, and desperately dispatched. / How fain like Pilate, would I wash my hand / Of this most grievous murder.”

• Said by: Second Murderer (Act 1, Scene 4, 283 - 285)
• Significance: After murdering Clarence, the Second Murderer ponders how he will get rid of the guild of the murder of innocent blood; this differentiated the murderers because while the Second one shows remorse the First one was the one who stabbed Clarence and showed no guilt for the murder.

6. “He that bereft thee, lady, of thy husband / Did it to help thee to a better husband.”

• Said by: Richard (Act 1, Scene 2, 148 - 149)
• Significance: Another one of Richard's strategies to win over Anne was to say he killed her husband so he could marry her and be a better, more loving, husband.

7. “”Never hung poison on a fouler toad. / Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes.”

• Said by: Anne (Act 1, Scene 2, 161 - 162)
• Significance: One of Anne's many insults to Richard, this one specifically comments on his deformity and unattractiveness, stating that his hideousness is harming her sight, in addition to his foul nature for killing her husband and his father.

8. “Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, / Have no delight to pass away the time, / Unless to see my shadow in the sun / And descant on mine own deformity.

• Said by: Richard (act 1, Scene 1, 24 - 27)
• Significance: Richard comments how in this time of peace he is no longer preoccupied with war and is left bored with nothing to do but wallow in self-pity about his deformities and live in the shadow of his brother, King Edward IV.