NOTE: Try to finish the play for Tuesday, but at least read Act 4, since that will form the brunt of our discussion. I'll also bring in some context about Elizabeth I to help us appreciate the play--and Q2 below.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Has Richard changed by the last two acts? Is he no longer the sinister, yet charming, and almost humorous character he was at the beginning? If so, what might have accounted for his change of character/persona? Or do you see him as a consistently evil character throughout, with no real growth one way or the other?
Q2: Considering that Elizabeth I was queen while Shakespeare wrote most of his plays, including Richard III, how might the strong queens in the play, notably Margaret and Elizabeth (!), be meant to flatter her? Where might we see lines and passages that show that Shakespeare was trying to be empathetic with her position as a female queen in a world of men? In other words, how might knowing Elizabeth I was listening have inspired Shakespeare to put certain words in their mouths?
Q3: We get a terrible echo of the Richard/Anne scene in Act 4.4, when Richard woos Elizabeth for the hand of her daughter. How does Richard repeat some of the same language and rhetoric from the earlier scene, and is he as convincing to Elizabeth, or the audience, here? Why does she agree to go along with it?
Q4: Since Richard comes to power only in Act 4, and is dispatched in Act 5, do we really get a sense of catharsis with his death? Do we feel that justice has been served and the play is 'cleansed' of his presence? Should we see him slain as we see Claudius and others die on-stage in Hamlet? Or by not having him die on-stage, does this avoid the cruder aspects of revenge?
Q5: What do you make of the long procession of ghosts that suddenly appear at the end of Act 5 to curse Richard and praise Richmond? In a play that seems grittily realistic, is it strange to suddeny get shades of Hamlet and Macbeth? Do you feel this makes artistic sense, or is it sort of too over-the-top to be believable? If you were a director, would you cut this part of the play, or is it theatrically (or cathartically) effective?
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