Act 1 Richard III

Act 1 Richard III

            Act One, Scenes One and Four of the Richard III by Shakespeare, is the passage I find more educative. The two scenes of Act one depicts thematic issues such as greed for power, betrayal, justice, man and the natural world, and hypocrisy. The themes set the mood of the play and are a reflection of the current world.

Act 1 introduces us to Richard, Edward’s brother, whom Shakespeare portrays as a hunchback with a deformity “Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time.” Richard is the villain in this play who manipulates, betrays, and murders people in his pursuit of the throne. He associates his determination to prove a villain on his deformity. His monologue reveals his plot to kill Clarence, his brother, as well as King Edward, who is ailing by setting them against each other.

In scene one, Clarence, Richard’s brother, is brought before him accompanied by Brankenbury following his arrest as a command from King Edward. Clarence claims that the King hears a prophecy of a person whose name starts with the letter ‘G’ that would cause their kingdom to fall. Since his name is George, he becomes the primary suspect. Richard hides his pretense by accusing the women, specifically Queen Elizabeth, of plotting against Clarence..

Scene Four brings out the death of Clarence in the Tower of London. The murderers sent by Richard hand over the note to Brakenbury and debate on how to kill Clarence. Clarence awakens and engages in a conversation with the two murderers. He learns of their intention and pleads for his life, basing his plea on the sense of their Christianity, but they list his sins “For false forswearing and murder too”(Shakespeare,2009).Clarence cannot believe Richard is the mastermind of his death and the betrayal sets. He captures the sympathy of the second murderer with his persuasive words and is just about to overcome when the first murderer stabs him.

The two scenes display the separate roles that Richard plays, the outrageous character in stage one, and the “kind” side that Clarence knows “O do not slander him, for he is kind (1.4.229). I find this passage instructive, especially on how interestingly the roles of the murderers switches with the first murderer killing Clarence despite his conscience crisis. It is ironic how the second murderer convinces the first one to kill Clarence, reminding him of the payment yet refuses to participate in his death as well as the reward in the end.

Works cited

Shakespeare, William. King Richard III. Vol. 32. Cambridge University Press, 2009.