King Richard III by William Shakespeare Essay

T he plays depict the collapse of English date over parts of France and the bitter and fierce internal struggles between the Houses of Lancaster and York in the fight to fool 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 he was killed in betrothal . This essay examine s how the theme of conscience is evidence in Shakespe ars play, and how the issues addressed are reflected in my daily life. (100 words) atomic number 53 prominent theme in the drama is the theme of conscience.Throughout the drama, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, murders and betrays to collect the English crown. His conscience , however, is evident. In Act I scene iii, Margaret, an exiled author queen , has a special curse for Richard , who kille d her husband and her male child (lines 224 9) The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul. Thy friends suspect for traitors dapple thou cardinalst, And take 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 ugly devils. Most of Margarets curses are fulfilled during the play.Richard struggles with his enceinte conscience. In Act IV scene I Lady An ne , his wife is distressed to learn that she is to be crowned his queen, and speaks of her unhappiness and his finable conscience For never yet one hour in his complete Have I enjoyd the golden dew of sleep, But engender 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 curb by a coward conscience (lines 191 6) O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me The lights shine blue.It is now dead midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my shake flesh. 2 The theme is developed . Co nscience can be a manipulative tool used by cowards , Ric hard declares Let not our speak dreams affright our souls Conscience is but a word that cowards use, Devised at outset to keep 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 strength and determination command a respect of their own, his crimes aside. each day, I read in the papers that someone has exercised ruthless indicator over other people in some way, and so do swords their law to wi n a contest, whether it be in the form of cultivate 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, that ther e is such a thing as conscience, yet whether it is however 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 revolve around , non simplistically, on tyranny and ruthlessness in our midst. In a smell , the portrayal of Richard as a man with a conscience and, at the same time, with astute manipulative powers gives the drama unresolved humanistic problems. We whitethorn need to ask ourselves how far we can go to attain our ends while still sleeping at night.