by Dana Weintraub (Circle 4)
We talked a little bit about how Richard III and Iago differ from one another in class. Iago is a well liked character in Othello. He has many allies, who believe that he is genuine and supportive of their causes, including Othello himself. Richard, on the other hand, is universally hated despite anything that the York family gained from Richard’s prowess in battle during the Wars of the Roses. Why, then, is Richard so successful in his ruthless plots to attain the throne? Shakespeare’s characters know that Richard is willing to do whatever it takes to become king and it appears that Richard is destined to have this coveted seat of power.
One of Richard’s successes is in the wooing of Lady Anne; he manages to convince her to marry him even though at the beginning of the scene she is clearly in favor of his death. Anne calls out her men and says that Richard is the devil, “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 begone” (1.2.44-49). Anne says that Richard is not a mortal, that he cannot be completely killed because his spirit would live on even after his mortal body is gone. On top of his “devil-hood”, Anne even has proof of Richard’s murderous actions: “In thy foul throat thou liest. Queen Margaret saw Thy murd’rous falchion smoking in his blood” (1.2.99-102). Queen Margaret is aware of exactly what Richard has done, and Lady Anne does not seem to be wavering AT ALL from Richard’s begging. At this point in the scene, it appears as though Anne is very strong and aware of what sort of “devil” Richard is. However, when Richard pleads with Anne to kill him, she cannot do it. Richard continues: “Nay, do not pause, for I did kill King Henry— But ’twas thy beauty that provokèd me. Nay, now dispatch; ’twas I that stabbed young Edward— But ’twas thy heavenly face that set me on” (1.2.196-200). This is when Jane drops the sword that could have been used to slay Richard and she agrees to marry him. I do not think that Jane is tempted because she is suddenly in love with Richard. My belief is that Lady Anne is aware of how much Richard is willing to do to gain power. Marrying Richard is almost a sure plan to get her closer to the security of being queen.
Margarette is the character that most obviously predicts Richard’s rise to power. It seems as though Margaret is one of the “fates” from ancient Greek mythology; she speaks about Richard’s destiny in terms of who will be hurt and, quite obviously, points out that it will be by Richard’s hand. Margaret predicts that history is about to repeat itself: “Edward thy son, that now is Prince of Wales, For Edward our son, that was Prince of Wales, Die in his youth by like untimely violence. Thyself a queen, for me that was a queen, Outlive thy glory, like my wretched self.” (1.3.208-213). This foretelling of “past will be future” is equivalent to the predictions of the Soothsayer in Julius Caesar and the 3 Witches in Macbeth. The otherworldly-ness of Richard’s success is illuminated by Margret’s curses: “Why then, give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses! Though not by war, by surfeit die your king, As ours by murder to make him a king” (1.3.204-207). This line makes me think of Margret as a sort of ominous, supernatural weather-woman. She tells the characters that even though the war is over, the death, destruction and fight for the throne has not quite run its course. Richard is the perpetuator of the “dull clouds”.
Dana,
I have to say, upon seeing the title of your blog I chuckled a little if not for the fact that the play is a tragedy and anything with “Richard” and “Success” just screams irony. For what you were talking about though, I agree 100%. Minus the inevitable end that can only be attributed to Shakespearean tragedies, up until the last two scenes of the play, Richard was winning victory after victory even with the prophetic curses from Margaret and scathing remarks from all the other characters. Richard proved to be a near force of nature with how hateful and ruthless he was in his desire to obtain the crown and title of King, even if it meant cold blooded murder, which he was all to happy to carry out, both directly and indirectly. I’d like to think that if this play was reworked somehow in the modern era, I’d like to think that Richard would be the one to triumph over Richmond for the fact that people love seeing evil bastards win every once and a while, and since I personally think Richard’s speech and actions were more awe worthy than Richmond’s in the end, that sort of re-imagining with a full on success seems very appropriate.
It is interesting to see Richard compared to Iago. In the end they have similar fates, where they are both undone, but you are right in saying that Iago was a well liked character. It is interesting that he, being well liked and competent, did not receive the position he desired, which drove him to plot against the other characters. Richard, on the other hand, is hated from the beginning. He makes no attempts to befriend anyone or be well liked at all, yet he achieves his desired position of King. Although they both are undone in the end, they both take very different tactics, it is interesting that the evil approach works for Richard and not at all for Iago.
Dana,
Queen Margaret is one of my favorite characters to read in this play. The imagery that she provides when she enters the scene, proclaims her curses and then somehow disappears is hilarious and wonderful to me. What is most satisfying about Margaret and her curses is the knowledge of how accurate they are and the fact that they will come true.
Going back to King Richard and Iago, I do find it odd that Richard is so successful, at least up to a point. I prefer Iago’s villany to Richards if only because Iago is a master with words and deception, while Richard is known for what he truly is. Furthermore, Iago had the potential of getting away with his wrong-doings more so than Richard would have been successful in his stealing of the throne.
Dana,
I see your point and agree with what you have to say, but after class yesterday I have a slightly different thought about your post. Yes, Iago pretended to be someone he was not and ended up unsuccessful unlike Richard who was no afraid to be hated and resulted with a “successful” outcome. I think the part of Richard III that makes me believe they both were not successful is the scene when Richard realizes how bad he really is. If he died not caring what people think I would 100% agree with what you have to say, but because he suddenly realizes how terrible of a person he is, makes me think otherwise. I do laugh at Iago though, because if he is going to be hated he mine as well be upfront about it like Richard. I’d rather see someone for who they really are rather than have them lie to my face and pretend to be someone they’re not!
Hi Dana,
I like the strategies and tactics you used to successfully compare Richard to Iago. Richard is an evil man in this play and gets away with anything until the breaking scene of when he is haunted by his victims that he kills which is by far my favorite part in the play! I think it changes the whole play and gives a great ending interpretation of Richard and maybe he doesn’t want to be evil but everyone depicted him out to be this evil man only by his physical characteristics and Richard then decided to play the part. I think by Richard seeing these ghosts shows that he does have feeling and he is human and he has fear just like any other human would feel and this shows maybe that wasn’t the real him, maybe it was just an act!
Dana,
I found the contrasts you drew between Iago and Richard to be quite telling when observing each of their endings at the conclusion of Othello and Richard III. Iago was able to charm the people around him, creating the character of the honest and dutiful ensign. Meanwhile, there is no secret as to who Richard is. He seems primarily able to manipulate through fear, after all, what choice did Lady Anne really have? Unsurprisingly, it is Iago who ends his play alive and it is Richard who ends up dead. Richard, who’s villainy was well known, could only play his game for so long.
I really liked your comparison of Iago and Richard, something that is not pointed out as much in other comparisons is that Richard is universally disliked. By the end of the play, he has absolutely nobody on his side. Even throughout the play he has very few people by his side, and they are mostly there out of fear of Richard. Iago, on the other hand, is able to play to people’s emotions by pretending to be one of the group.I think these are both very interesting characters, easily the two most entertaining characters we’ve read in class so far. Even though the comparison between the two characters is almost impossible to ignore, it is still worth noting the differences between the two, because there are some important distinctions, including their different plays on emotions.
Dana,
I’m so glad you expanded upon the idea of Margaret as an oracle of sorts. While reading this play, it was always a joy to see Margaret stumble out from behind some curtain every so often to remind Richard and his plot devices that they’re all damned – even Richard himself. I believe Queen Margaret brings a great sense of the supernatural to Richard III and her prophecies – which could just be interpreted as the whims of a senile woman – provide an even more foreboding element to Richard’s demise. Also, I must say, it was nice to have a strong woman appear in this play – I was sick of seeing woman after woman killed, or banished, or thrown to the wayside. Queen Margaret is the quasi-hero of Richard III; you can’t help but appreciate her even more after every single character finally sees her prophecies manifest and their following praise for her, or damnation of her, in Richard’s unique case.
Your reading of Lady Anne was (in my personal opinion) really insightful and an interesting interpretation–in the actually interesting way and not the “I’m attempting to nicely call it weird” kind of way. I’d like to believe that in a canon that is supposed to boast realistic characters, a man who has murdered a woman’s father and fiance cannot then woo her (especially because he turned their deaths into a profession of love). However, she has lost everything: her loved ones, her kingdom, her power. Yet there is a way to gain that all back (save,maybe, the loved ones) and it is to bond yourself to someone who will stop at nothing to get all those things for themselves.
Dana, I appreciate your analysis of why Lady Anne chooses not to kill Richard when given the chance and furthermore, why she accepted his proposal. Up until now, I was also under the impression that Lady Anne was just as power-hungry as Richard and assumed that was the reason why she accepts his “apology” for killing her husband and father-in-law. What if, though, Lady Anne was just extremely frightened by Richard, both in terms of his appearance as well as his known capability of ruthless murder. Maybe Lady Anne dropped the sword instead of killing Richard out of fear of being overpowered by him, or that his cronies would soon be after her. Instead of aligning herself with Richard for the sake of power, Lady Anne could have also likely decided to align herself with him in hopes that he would spare her life, which he does until the last act. If I were Lady Anne, I would not want to become queen, considering the fate of Margaret, Elizabeth, and the Duchess of York, but I would try to keep my enemies–Richard–closest.