Richard_the_3

Both the texts of Richard the III by William Shakespeare and Looking for Richard by Al Pacino are able to draw in audiences due to their intense investigation of the human psyche. Modern day audiences are able to reconnect to the text as the values and themes portrayed in the text have been little altered over the past 400 years. Themes such as Manipulation, Justice, Power and betrayal. Richard III is an intense exploration of the psychology of evil, he is able to easily mould, manipulate and seduce the texts characters. Richard proves to be highly self-reflective and complicated in the later scenes making his heinous acts all the more chilling. But despite his open allegiance to evil, he is such a charismatic and fascinating figure that, for much of the play, we sympathize with him, audiences are able to gain emotional access to the character through Shakespeare’s ignition of the human psyche. In this way, our relationship with Richard mimics the other characters’ relationships with him, conveying a powerful sense of the force of his personality. Even characters such who have an explicit knowledge of his wickedness, allow themselves to be seduced by his brilliant wordplay, his skillful argumentation, and his relentless pursuit of his selfish desires. Richard is constantly manipulating characters around him in an acrobatic performance of words and subtleties. While Richard’s manipulations deliver tangible benefits, they also increase our begrudging admiration for just how talented he is at controlling people through language. Richard even manipulates the audience: by letting us in on the secret details and intents of his manipulations, he creates an atmosphere of complicity. Not only do his manipulations keep the play lively, the skill with which they’re executed keep us on his side. We get to see the inside of this incredibly artful machine. Manipulation isn’t always about deception in the play. Instead, characters often speak in veiled and clever terms, allowing each other to hear whatever they want to hear. Characters often allow themselves to be manipulated, making them complicit in their own victimization. Justice is multifaceted and also a matter of perspective in Richard III. On the most superficial level, the play is about bringing Richard to justice, Richard unjustly seeks the throne (as he is not the rightful heir), and the action of the play consists of Richard using unjust means to acquire that throne. However, the play is transformed from a simple story of crime and inevitable punishment because the audience is encouraged to sympathize with Richard. Justice becomes a larger issue than the rightful ascension to the throne when other characters’ hypocrisies are revealed. Many minor players commit unjust acts for self-gain, and they are less clever than Richard. Finally, as Richard fights valiantly in the end, even as his horse has deserted him, we’re reminded that Richard was really treated unjustly by Nature. He’s has had an extremely difficult life, so his injustices in this world might be reasonable given the injustice he’s labored under all his life. When Richard is vanquished in the end, we’re not satisfied that justice has been done, so much as we realize that we’ve been handed more questions about the different degrees and kinds of justice that exist. Power operates on many different levels though, of which the monarchy is only one. There’s the tension of power between men and women, between older and younger sons, and between competing families. The play’s concluding power struggle is framed as a battle between good and evil: God’s cause and the cause of the individual. Characters assert their individual power throughout the play, but they’re always confined by the power of their greater cause. Richard is ultimately doomed because he alone fights for himself. He’s taken down by a man whose source of power is God’s will. Richard III is full of little betrayals. The betrayals set the tone for the play: nothing is sacred and no one is safe from disloyalty and deceit. Richard betrays his friends, and his friends betray Richard, and through it all, there’s never a moment of surprise or shock. Betrayal is an expected part of power politics, and the audience learns to be wary of the motives and intentions of nearly every player. Betrayal is a contagion, and one that drives everyone to pre-emptive deceit. Only someone who refuses to betray the state’s interests for their own gain (namely Richmond) can break the cycle of distrust and exploitation.