OCR A Level English Literature: Richard III Complete Thematic Essay Plans - A* ACHIEVED
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Drama and poetry pre-1900 (H472)
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Richard III
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OCR A Level English Literature: Richard III Act III Notes - A* ACHIEVED
OCR A Level English Literature: Richard III Part (B) Response - 15/15 ACHIEVED
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Richard III Plans
WOMEN
Intro: passivity vs linguistic capabilities + moral reasoning
● neglected and disregarded, yet integral to exposing features of the plot
● For the first time in his writing career, Shakespeare allows one character to dominate the
proceedings, a feature many have deemed to be a structural weakness
○ with Richard’s vital role, other characters (women) can seem flat + disempowered as was
typical in the historical, androcentric 15th century society
○ Mark Eccles: Richard speaks over a third of the plays' lines and appears in fourteen of
twenty-five scenes, such that "his shadow hangs over the rest."
● Although women lack political influence + independence, they wield intense emotional force and
speak a vigorous, powerful language as the underlying voices of morality
○ Dollimore: "Richard III is unusual among the history plays in the prominence of its female
characters'',
○ Margaret’s prophetic cursing and Elizabeth Woodeville’s vivid imagery driving home the
venal nature of Richard’s machinations, there is a compelling argument to be had
regarding their theatrical significance
■ She actually died in 1482, but role is key
POINT 1: PASSIVITY
➔ Often serving as part of the chorus in which their only power of any note is that of cursing
◆ appear to lack certain capacities for virtue and integrity and hold little political power,
distinct from that gained through their relationships to important men
◆ Peter Smith, a late 20th Century critic, touched on “the fickle stupidity of women”, (eg.
Anne)
● Appealing to her personal vanity as the “sweet saint, for charity” her propensity to
inspire passion, and her maternal ambition, Anne allows herself to succumb to
Richard’s manipulation, despite her previous cursing of him as the “foul devil”,
who “know'st no law of God nor man”
● Her presence = means of showcasing Richard’s verbal powers of persuasion.
➔ Lack of female resilience: act 4 as Queen Elizabeth learns that Richard, who has claimed the
kingship, has denied her the right to see her sons in the tower
◆ Citing her familial relationship: “I am their mother. Who shall bar me from them?”
◆ But Elizabeth does not attempt to gain access to her sons, understanding that as a
woman she holds no power in the face of Richard’s cunning
● ability to make decisions about her children = proscribed by subordinate role in
society + lack of initiative she chooses to take as a result condemns her to a
passive role (self-fulfilling??)
POINT 1: DOMINANCE THROUGH PROPHETIC POWER
➔ Dominance distinct from that of the male characters + one which enriches the play with the female
characters at its emotional core
➔ Male characters negotiate political action, the women articulate the emotional tolls and
consequences such actions precipitate
◆ encouraging moral evaluation from modern + contemporary audiences
◆ With emergence of modern feminist readings: argument regarding the subversive,
contradictory elements of the play
● for its self-conscious theatricality, and in exploring women who have been dealt
with dismissively
, ● Whilst contemporary critics considered the roles and functions of the women to
be feeble uninteresting victims
● Modern = power of female characters to divert sympathy from Richard in the
second half of the play
○ Bruce W. Young: women have power in that they seem to be beyond
Richard’s control
○ Eg. his mother’s vehement curses help to “bring about his downfall”
➔ Ironically, Richard’s fiercest critic shares many of his characteristics:
◆ Margaret = forceful rhetorician, whose intrinsic understanding of wordplay enables her to
establish a sense of verbal dominance (maybe equals/rivals Richard’s strong, calculative
approach)
◆ Impassioned response to Rivers’s attempt to discredit and demean her: “were you well
served, you would be taught her duty,"
● Margaret mirrors his words: "to serve me well, you all should do me duty”
● Her invective is powerful and eloquent, ironically, like her enemy Richard, she
employs the same inversion technique that Richard made use of during his
exchange with Lady Anne
● Imperative “serve me well” = power + conviction
➔ despite their similarities, Richard often uses wordplay to obscure the truth from others to “prove a
villain” (Margaret turns to wordplay to expose it)
◆ female integrity to counteract Lady Anne’s lack of it
➔ if the play = Tudor propaganda with the aim of appealing to Elizabeth I:
◆ Impetus for Richard to convey women as powerful and effective leaders
◆ Margaret’s bloody-minded vituperation = unique within the play + prophetic qualities = she
becomes theatrically compelling despite not having any soliloquies and essentially
existing as a static commentator, part Greek Fury, part chorus
◆ Women play an active role in driving the progression of the plot, and swaying
perceptions of Richard, albeit more subtly than their male counterparts.
POINT 3: MORAL AGENCY
➔ Play derives partial inspiration from the tradition of morality plays: women occupy a privileged
space on the stage due to capacity to become both figments of historical fiction + physical barrier
between Richard and the audience
➔ perhaps due to their helpless suffering, that the women also come to function as the national voice
for retributive justice
◆ Margaret: dominates with her litany of revenge - "blind sight, dead life", + "brief abstract
and record of tedious days" = inevitability of God's punishment for grievous sins
◆ dual role as a spokeswoman of historical facts, she outlines the violence that’s ruled
country since the accession of Henry VI
● Brings to light the Yorkists’ provoking of civil war, Edward IV and Clarence’s,
breaking of their oaths + casts characters as individuals nurtured in violence,
concerned with usurpation, civil disorder, and self-seeking individualism
● Richard = culmination of this hostility: personification of evil that springs from a
context of decayed public morality, features which are made apparent through
the famlate curses and their denunciation of him as a “black magician” and “foul
devil”
➔ contrast to Richard’s Machiavellian immorality: women point out moral truths + emphasise general
principles of the Elizabethan world view of moral and political order
◆ Shirley Galloway: “the women of this play function as voices of protest and morality”.
CONCLUSION:
- women = passive characters, pawns in greater, macrocosmic political machinations
, - BUT even in cases where women lack sense of initiative / integrity, their actions still succeed in
strengthening the qualities of others:
- Eg. Richard’s propensity for verbal manipulation
- So still play a role in the drama and development of the play
- Focusing on the men alone, the play would mostly be about calculating political
strategising and power, only when the women come into view that we see the
emotional toll of this politically volatile situation
- Young: "Women have power in the play because they seem to be beyond
Richard's control.”
LOYALTY
Intro
● For the first time in his writing career, Shakespeare allows one character to dominate the
proceedings, a feature many have deemed to be a structural weakness
○ with Richard’s vital role, other characters can seem flat + disempowered as was typical in
the historical, androcentric 15th century society
○ Mark Eccles: Richard speaks over a third of the plays' lines and appears in fourteen of
twenty-five scenes, such that "his shadow hangs over the rest."
But when such a character has The White Boar as their heraldic symbol, with boars being associated with
courage and ferociousness, and white loyalty, it seems loyalty is as inexorable a force as Richard’s powers
of persuasion
- His personal motto is ‘loyalty binds me’
- Family loyalty, committed integrity + dedicated reilience
POINT 1: THE BLINDING CAPACITY OF FAMILY LOYALTY (especially when spurred on by
Richard’s eloquence)
➔ Clarence: seriousness of dramatist’s purpose conveyed by dignified rhetoric
◆ Despite dream in which “Methought that Gloucester stumbled, and in falling struck me",
believes (about Richard) "he loves me, and he holds me dear."
➔ Shakespeare highlighting the ironies and hypocrisies of family loyalty given the contexts of the civil
war
➔ ‘He for his fathers sake so loves the Prince that he will not be won to aught against him’ (Act 3,
Scene 1) Catesby about Richard - Catesby thinks that Richard is loyal to the princes because of
familial loyalty however Richard is responsible for their murder
Edward: only major speech + last before he dies = unusually touching + powerful
“Who spoke of brotherhood? Who spoke of love?”
- Appeals to the importance of loyalty and love over manoeuvring + deception that prevails in the
court
POINT 2: LOYALTY IN THE FORM OF INTEGRITY / RESILIENCE / CONVICTION (particularly women)
➔ Maraget = loyal insofar as she remains devoted + steadfast in her denunciation of Richard (unlike
other figures eg. Anne)
➔ Play derives partial inspiration from the tradition of morality plays: women occupy a privileged
space on the stage due to capacity to become both figments of historical fiction + physical barrier
between Richard and the audience
➔ perhaps due to their helpless suffering, that the women also come to function as the national voice
for retributive justice
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