Theatrical Adaptation

Meditation #11 -- Katie Marchant

I was so very confused by all the different characters and how they were related to each other in Richard III. So here is my understanding of all of the characters, how they relate to each other, and my opinions of the main characters. I am going to begin by listing the characters by how they are related to each other then I will go back and explain some of my opinions on the main characters.

According to http://nfs.sparknotes.com/richardiii/characters.epl the characters are related as follows: King Edward IV, Richard and Clarence are brothers. Their mother is the Duchess of York. Queen Elizabeth is King Edward’s wife and she has four sons; Gray and Dorset from a previous marriage and the young princes (Edward and the Duke of York). Rivers if Queen Elizabeth’s brother. Queen Margaret is the late King Henry VI’s wife. Lady Anne is the wife of the late Prince Edward (the son of King Henry and Queen Margaret) who was killed before the play begins. Buckingham is Richard’s right-hand man in all of his schemes. Richmond is part of the Lancaster family who was dethroned by the Yorks. Richmond gathers an army and defeats Richard in the end. There are other lesser characters that I will not go on to describe. Wow… I am still confused even though I didn’t include the other characters that pop up occasionally!

Here are my thoughts on Richard, Lady Anne and Buckingham. I believe that Richard was a very lonesome and misunderstood man. He feels that he must prove himself worthy in the eyes of others because of his physical disabilities and his way of making himself worthy is to work his way to the top by killing anyone in his path. I feel that he does this because it is the only way he thinks that he can gain worthiness but in reality he is making himself more and more unlikable. I don’t really understand why Lady Anne agreed to marry Richard when she knew that he was partially if not solely responsible for the death of her husband and father-in-law. Was it simply because she felt that she needed protection and she believed that Richard could offer her that? I suppose that times were very different then and a woman really did need a man to survive in the world but I think that she probably could have found someone else who wouldn’t wind up killing her in the end. Buckingham is a very interesting character. Is he helping Richard simply because he wants to get ahead or because he truly believes that Richard has the right to the throne? I don’t believe that he is truly as cold-hearted as Richard. I think that he was simply taking advantage of a way to get ahead and didn’t realize how far Richard would take things.

posted by Katie Marchant @ 8:41 PM