Human_Nature_Lfr_&_Kriii

Human nature is the concept of where there are certain notable characteristics that we as humans all share in common such as the way we act, think and feel. These characteristics are inherited as perceived through the exploration of the two texts that we have studied, Shakespeare's play, 'King Richard the third' and Al Pacino's docudrama Looking for Richard as they both depict a range of similar aspects of human nature such as ambition and conscience, regardless of their differing contexts. The two texts explicitly linked by the historical events of England exhibit how these aspects can become destructive upon oneself, through a wide range of dramatic and cinematic techniques. These broaden the concept and understanding of human nature for the audience compared to one. The Elizabethan context of the Shakespeare's play demonstrates the values at the time and how conscience is portrayed through them which enable the audience to understand better. Shakespeare's context presents the concerns and fear of god's vengeance and superstition which enables the audience of the Elizabethan Era to bond to the play easily. This fear is demonstrated in the scene of the ghost apparitions, who have come to curse Richard and bless Richmond. The repetition of 'Despair and therefore die' proclaimed by Richard's victims highlight god's wrath upon him. This underscores his mental and emotional torment showing how his mind is slowly corrupting, as he becomes conscious of his sins. 'I am so far in blood that sin will pluck on sin' From this point Richard cannot deny his conscience any longer and this leads him to lose control. Shakespeare also explores the idea of conscience by creating the central character, Richard to be physically deformed. At the beginning soliloquy Richard states that he is 'Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time'. This allows us to comprehend that he is very aware of his distortion, although the tone he uses is very ironic and he himself denies of conscience calling it 'a word that cowards use'. This acute consciousness and his thwarted sexuality is however evident and provides him with a psychological foundation for his moral corruption as well as his evil, which he declares at the beginning. 'I am determined to prove a villain And hate the idle pleasures of these days. Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous.... To set my brother Clarence and the King in deadly hate the one against the other' The soliloquy outlines his ambition to take the throne and the evil plot he has laid out to get rid of those who stand in his way. His strong sense of ambition further ensnares his mind into doing evil deeds. His deformity also explicitly symbolises his evil and Shakespeare characterises this through the continuing sequence of repulsive animal imagery. Lady Anne wishes him bad fortune than she can wish 'to wolves, to spiders, toads or any venomed thing that lives' as well as later calling him a hedgehog and toad. Contrasting to this, Pacino's film produced in the 20st century illustrates guilt and fear as an outcome of Richard's awareness of his deformity and his ambition. He compares between Elizabethan and modern context, by juxtaposing scenes from Richard the third, implementing rehearsal scenes, and deconstructing the play. Pacino reshapes the Elizabethan values and focuses on the significance of family reflected in the 20th century. He intentionally emphasises the scene of certain deaths such as his brother Clarence and the princes. In the scene of Clarence's death, close up shots of Clarence's face show the despair he is in. Even though he is about to be murdered he still talks of holy thought. 'Relent and save your souls'. This accentuates his innocence and creates sympathy and shock in the audience, allowing them to see how corrupt Richard's character is to murder his brother. The build up of the scenes of death is important as not only does it creates sympathy but also represents the development of underlying guilt in Richard. We can see the effects of this when he makes his first entry as king. The title of 'Richard is King' against a black background and flashes of roughly drawn lines resembling crowns in red as they zoom in and out gives the sense of disorder and fear. This echoes Richard's state of mind illustrating clearly of his mental and emotional suffering due to his oppressed conscience. We immediately take in that his high spirit and sense of humor has deserted him further enhanced by the dark lighting of the scene. We see his confidence is shaken by Buckingham as he hesitated to take the hint of murdering the Princes. Pacino shows this by casting Richard's face in shadows and anger burning in his eyes. This illustrates of his mistrust in even his most loyal supporters as his conscience eats away at his mind. Richard's soliloquy after the ghost apparition confirms of his guilt and here we can see that he starts to examine his own conscience that he has been denying. His tone is laced with ambiguity and fear as he questions himself eyes casting around. 'Richard, Richard... what do i fear'... myself'. This shows how his denial of his conscience has made him inhuman and by saying his own name out loud confirms 'he is alienated from his own body, his own self'. We can see that looking at Shakespeare's play alone would not have as much meaning upon a contemporary audience but however by exploring connections between both Shakespeare's and Pacino's text together, greater meaning of human nature is expressed and the world that constructed it to a wider range of audience than one could ever provide. The different contexts allow for deeper meaning to be created presenting values of the time and Pacino's deconstruction through cinematic techniques leads the audience to have different viewpoints and ideas, but all in all a better understanding of human nature.