Textual Conversations – Looking for Richard vs Richard III

Resource Description

Looking for Richard vs Richard III

Syllabus Terminology

Resonances & Dissonances

Reframing/Reimagining

Mirror

Align

Collide

Parallel/Disparate

Values, Assumptions & Perspectives

How are composers influenced by other texts

Context

Motif, Intertextuality & Allusion

Values

Purpose

Common Textual Features & Concepts

Shape New meaning

 

Themes

Conscience

• Values such as Integrity, compassion & humility are explored
• Richard embodies the sick irrepressible obsession with darkness, often discouraged in today’s world through moral & social conventions
• Shakespeare’s RIchard focus’ on his evil energy with a restless tempo
• His dream is a metaphor for his suppressed sense of humanity being released – after he wakes, Shakespeare employs dialogue between two voices “is there a murderer here? No. Yes I am” – the psychological examination by Shakespeare expresses Richard’s inner turmoil & the nature of humans suggesting that humans cannot live when ignoring their conscience
• Pacino differs here as he believes that Richard’s karma is a result of his own mind, rather than providentialism
• Pacino uses the filmic technique of Montage in order to capture Richard’s fragmenting conscience & his psychological stress being an accumulation of one’s faded consciousness
• The ending’s are aligned, whereby Richard’s evilness leads to his defeat & death where “no one shall pity him” – both composers ultimately conveying that no one can love their evilness, no one can suppress their own humanity & no one can be a villain
• Shakespeare portrays conscience attached to the dealings of God, ie through his Chain of Being – progresses from God to angelic being, to animals & plants
• Pacino diverts from this belief where the equivalent of the high status kings (scholars & academics) are just as important as other cast members – the documentary is a deliberate pastiche of cuts from interviews with actors & scholars, juxtaposed with impromptu vox pops with individuals from NYC to demonstrate that Shakespeare can reach everyone 
• When Richard is confronted by the ghosts of who he has killed & betrayed, he exclaims “O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me?” – not seeking salvation
• Shakespeare explores how individuals can ignore their conscience & commit evil such as the murders of Clarence who only hesitates a moment before taking his life or even Buckingham who supports Richard until he makes the mistake of having to consider whether he supports the murder of the two young princes – “He did all the dirty work & propped up the king” (LFR)
• Clarence fears death because he has killed others to increase his power “I have done those things”
• Role of Women in the play represent a voice of conscience & compassion, the scene omitted by Pacino is key to revealing Richard’s evil, cruelty & complete lack of compassion/morality
• The one exception of this is the wooing scene where Anne agrees to marry richard

Free Will vs Providentialism

• Values such as piety & humility are explored
• RIchard is determined to orchestrate his own destiny, “determined to prove a villain” however this is a pun referring to the conflict between his free will & his ‘destiny’ to be a villain
• Prior to his death in battle, RIchard states that “slave, I have set my life upon a cast & I will stand the hazard of the die” – Queen Margaret reminds him of God’s will & providence
• The Duchess of York foreshadows the dire consequences of his evil “bloody thou art, bloody will be thy end”
• Although the defeat of Richard supports providentialism, Shakespeare’s representation of Richard as a seductive & charming villain provokes thought about the place of free will & determinism & represents the renaissance struggle
• Looking for Richard reflects a secular world with no reference to determinism

Duplicity

• Values of honesty, integrity, loyalty & truth are explored
• Both SP & Pacino convey Richard’s ability to gain power through deception & manipulation
• Richard embodies a dual nature whereby he appears one way but in truth is entirely opposite – ie the juxtaposition of being a loyal brother “I will deliver you or else lie for you” compared to his true intentions to muder him, highlighting his duality & deception 
• Clarence understand that Richard will lie on the chopping block for him however Richard means that he will “deliver” him to his maker & “lie” in order to do so
• Pacino’s rendition mirrors this through his use of shadows & communicating lies and inherent deception
• RIII is never what he seems, he is only honest with the audience when informing them of his plans & celebrating his success – he uses irony skillfully to his his ruthlessness & his lack of conscience
• Richard’s duplicity is further exacerbated by Shakespeare’s use of metatheatrical devices – when richard compares himself to a ‘General Vice’ “thus like the formal vice” demonstrating his role as the 2nd man in charge – he was appointed due to a failure/death of the primary
• Pacino mirrors this idea through his ‘play within a play’ form whereby jump cuts from the play to actors discussing the play are common & also that real life is intertwined with fiction
• Even after all his bloody deeds, he is able to convince people, albeit for a brief time, to support him

In LFR, one actor observes that “all that’s left is winning the people”, whereby Pacino responds with “he’s got the whole world in his hands”