King Richard III by William Shakespeare Essay

T he plays depict the collapse of English control over parts of France and the bitter and bowelless internal struggles between the Houses of Lancaster and York in the fight to gain the crown of England. King Richard III is regarded (Hume 202) as a piece of prop aganda support ing the Tudor monarchs who succeeded Richard after(prenominal) he was killed in battle . This essay examine s how the theme of conscience is evidenced in Shakespeares play, and how the issues addressed are reflected in my everyday life. (100 words) One prominent theme in the drama is the theme of conscience.Throughout the drama, Richard,Duke of Gloucester, murders and betrays to gain the English crown. His conscience , however, is evident. In Act I scene iii, Margaret, an exiled designer queen , has a special curse for Richard , who kille d her husband and her son (lines 224 9) The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul. Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou livst, And coach deep traitors for thy dearest friends. No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine, Unless it be while some tormenting dream Affrights thee with a hell of vile devils. Most of Margarets curses are fulfilled during the play.Richard struggleswith his heavy conscience. In Act IV scene I Lady An ne , his wife is distressed to pack that she is to be crowned his queen, and speaks of her unhappiness and his guilty conscience For never yet one hour in his bed Have I enjoyd the golden dew of sleep, But have been waked by his timorous dreams. Spec tacularly, in the scene before the battle at Bosworth, King Richard is visited by the ghosts of h i s victims . His soliloquy in Act V scene iii suggests that he is overcome by a coward conscience (lines 191 6) O coward conscience, how dost thou smite me The lights burn blue.It is now dead midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. 2 The theme is developed . Co nscience can be a manipulative tool used by cowards , Richard declares Let not our babbling d reams affright our souls Conscience is but a word that cowards use, Devised at first to clutches the strong in awe Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law. I shall now consider how conscience relates to my daily life. It has often been remarked (e. g. G ui 203 Palfreyman 80) that Richards assertiveness, his distinctiveness and determination command a respect of their own, his crimes aside.Every day, I read in the papers that someone has exercised ruthless index number over other nation in some way, and so made swords their law to wi n a contest, whether it be in the form of school bullying, or rise to political power as in this play. I am still unclear as to how far we should assert ourselves to gain things that we want at others expense like this. It frightens me that I can understa nd such tyrants and see them as essentially very human. Such things are an integral part of life and ourselves and will never go away.I believe, though, thatthere is such a thing as consci ence, yet whether it is only something we have been taught is har d to establish. It is possible to see Shakespeares play as an elaborate wish fulfillment or fantasy, therefore. In sum, Shakespeare directs us to focus , non simplistically, on tyranny and ruthlessness in our midst. In a sense , the line drawing of Richard as a man with a conscience and, at the same time, with astute manipulative powers gives the drama unresolved humanistic problems. We may need to acquire ourselves how far we can go to attain our ends while still sleeping at night.