King Richard Iii and Looking for Richard Essay Example

emerging Renaissance humanism that suggested an individual could actively engage in self fashioning their own destiny.

This would allow Richard III to “clothe his naked villainy” and in turn, foster a charismatic connection that would see him confiding and conspiring amongst his audience. By studying Shakespeare’s specific context, I have been able to develop my understanding on how his Elizabethan context has allowed him to shape his character Richard III and as a result, the values inscribed within King Richard III itself. To establish the sinister intentions of Richard the actor, Shakespeare makes reference to his moral and physical impediments that leave him cursing “I that am not shaped for sportive tricks…I that am curtailed…”.

Through the subtle use of anaphora and repetition of ‘I that am’, which is fleshed out by a definitive tone, the audience is made aware of how Richard is led ostensibly “to prove a villain” and thus, adopt a disguise. Moreover, Richard’s theatricality is stressed as he embarks as a ‘master’ of his own fate, for he perceives himself as “subtle, false, and treacherous”. His sinister intentions are exemplified by the use of tricolon, evocative word choice and short sentence patterning that create a sharp staccato effect.

These intentions allow Shakespeare to subtly resonate Richard with the Vice from the medieval morality plays as well as the Renaissance Machiavelli who actively sought power, caused mischief, practised deceit and cynically gloats over his success. Moreover, Richard’s acting allows him to confide in his audience as he is paradoxically honest about his dishonesty, whilst also encouraging his audience not to detest him, but rather, take delight in his cleverness as the ‘director’ of the play.

Thus,

the opening soliloquy of Richard III offers an insight into how Richard manipulates the values of theatrically and power within the confines of his context to ultimately pursue political power by any means necessary. This in itself has deepened my understanding of how context shapes the values within King Richard III. The final soliloquy also depicts how the values within King Richard III have allowed it to transcend time and deepen my understanding between how context determines the values.

In the final soliloquy, Shakespeare depicts the downfall of Richard and the unravelling of his mind as he is overcome by a state of ambivalence at the “several sins” he has committed. Whereas Richard had previously engaged in the values of language and theatricality to engage in self-fashioning beliefs, Shakespeare provides the audience with a grim reminder about the penalty faced by those who flout with the divinely sanctioned principles of God. Richard’s inner turmoil is made evident as he questions his past actions, “What? Do I fear myself? Is there a murderer here? . The repetition of rhetorical questions coupled with a short, truncated sentence pattern accentuates Richard’s conflicted state of mind. Whereas Richard had previously used eloquent language that emulated with his confidence in “I am determined to prove a villain”, Shakespeare juxtaposes this with Richard’s crude use of monosyllabic words  in “I am a villain. Yet I lie, I am not”. In doing so, the collapse of Richard’s state of mind and in turn, his embodiment of renaissance humanism is exemplified as Shakespeare emphasises the penalties of defying God.

Similarly, Pacino’s self-reflexive docu-drama Looking for Richard has extended my understanding of context and values within

a text as it resonates with Richard III. The resonance being in that Pacino himself he is an actor who engages in theatricality and language to attain power, in this case though, he pursues cultural power. Much like King Richard III, Looking for Richard is a victim of its context. Whereas Shakespeare dealt with a 16th century Elizabethan context, Pacino’s multi-layered, self-reflexive film must contend with a contemporary American context.

In doing so, Pacino illustrates his purpose in grasping this cultural power by noting the transitory nature of Shakespeare’s canonical work and the impact that contextual influences have on his art forms. He juxtaposes an undershot of a gothic church with a contemporary shot of a New York basketball court. The presence of an eloquent, British voice over stating “these our actors…are melted into thin air”, suggests that film is now the dominant medium in modern society and as a result, the highly stylised Shakespearian works have begun to wane in their influence.

The context of Pacino’s docu-drama in itself has provides with an enlightened perspective of how the values of Shakespeare’s King Richard III have transcended time in such a way that it reverberates with the values within Looking for Richard. In light of the transitory nature of Shakespeare’s works, Pacino attempts to make Richard III more accessible to a contemporary audience by creating a fragmentary, post-modern blend of the process involved and product achieved in Looking for Richard.

Much like Richard, Pacino attempts to woo the interest and support of the audience by acting as a naif, unprepared to the works of Shakespeare. This is evidenced when he feigns ignorance to the text in “Who’s going

to say action” and utilises visual jokes in the form of hyperbolising the weight of a Shakespearian book. Furthermore, he uses a hand-held camera to interview the vox populi and acknowledge the fact that Shakespeare’s language acts as a barrier to a contemporary audience as they comment “it sucked” and “it’s boring”.

Ironically though, Pacino himself is an acclaimed Hollywood actor who is well informed of Richard III having played in two productions of it. This particular scene in Looking for Richard conveys the common thread that exists between the film and Shakespeare’s King Richard III: the pursuit of power through the values of theatricality and language. Despite the fact that Pacino is placed in a substantially different context, his underlying values explored serve as a testament to the way that Shakespeare’s core values transcend time and hence, deepen my understanding of the connection between the texts.

Pacino also capitalises on the advent of film to bring Shakespeare’s language to life and thus, bridge the widening gap posed by the transience of his works. This is conveyed in Pacino’s adaptation of the murder of Clarence. In the scene, an overhead and low angle shot depicts Richard placed highly on a stairwell, allowing Pacino to both establish himself as a powerful figure and as the director of the scene. The conspiratorial atmosphere is contrasted by a cut to the murder of Clarence.

Here, Pacino symbolically dresses him in white, carrying connotations of purity and holiness. The intensity of the murders contemplating the death of Clarence is heightened through the ongoing intensification of the non-diegetic, angelic choral music which adds depth and suspense to the scene. Pacino also incorporates chiaroscuro

to foreshadow the imminent murder of Clarence. The two scenes discussed above convey the common thread that exists between the film and Shakespeare’s King Richard III: the pursuit of power through the values of theatricality and language.

Despite the fact that Pacino is placed in a substantially different context, his underlying values explored serve as a testament to the way that Shakespeare’s core values transcend time and hence, deepened my understanding of the connection between the texts. Ipso facto, the connections that exist between King Richard III and Looking for Richard have provided me with a renewed understanding of how context shapes the way in which values are depicted.

Despite this though, the values themselves remain relatively unchanged as they themselves transcend the test of time. This is clear in Shakespeare’s play King Richard III whereby his Elizabethan context led him to produce a character that embodied the values of theatricality and language to pursue political power. Although Pacino’s docu-drama Looking for Richard appeals to a contemporary American audience, its values themselves are left relatively unscathed.