King Richard Iii and Looking for Richard Essay Plan free essay sample

Intro * Both Shakespeare’s Richard III and Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard both portray central values and ideas of the time. * The texts ideas are reflected by the context of the time. * Both texts written in different time periods meaning completely different contexts which shape the text. * Through Pacino’s hybrid style docudrama, he attempts to demystify Shakespeare’s Richard III, making it more accessible to the everyday person. Shakespeare shows the journey in Richard III of Richard himself on his dark quest to becoming king by both using his literary skills and performance to attain what he wants, ultimately being power. * Both texts use propaganda but whereas Shakespeare alludes to the Tudor Myth which is ingratiating himself to his patrons. Whereas Pacino is being more provocative. He is challenging the authority that the British literary world has over Shakespeare. * Both texts also use performance to connect ideas between the two Para 1- Richard III * Context War of the Roses – now that his house has won the battle. We will write a custom essay sample on King Richard Iii and Looking for Richard Essay Plan or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He wants to be king Tudor Myth – had to ingratiate to the Tudor house and uphold their reign. This too is one of Pacino’s main challenges as he is expressing an egalitarian society where all people and their views are equal as he speaks to various people on the street. However Shakespeare had to ingratiate his monarch, the Tudor House and ensure Tudor patronage. * Throughout the entire play, Shakespeare depicts Richard as a monstrous Machiavellian. Who Nicollo Machiavelli described in his book which was written in Shakespeare’s time is when a person may use craft or deceit in order to maintain or achieve power. Shakespeare presents Richard in this way as he was from the House York which is what the Tudors opposed when they first came to power. * Opening soliloquy – See Richards true character and his intentions in the play. Recognises himself in the play, â€Å"I am determined to prove a villain. † Metafiction shown. Richard feels that he needs to get into power to make up for him being â€Å"rudely stamped,† and â€Å"Cheated of feature by dissembling nature. † * Shakespeare exaggerates and devalues Richard in this manner to perpetuate the Tudor myth whilst demonising Richard, which institutes the Tudor reign as one of providence and divine sanctioning. Para 2 – looking for Richard * CHALLENGES Pacino isn’t challenging the actual information and ideas expressed in Richard III. But rather he is challenging the British literary world, and their belief that they hold all the knowledge to Shakespeare’s plays. He does this constantly throughout the entire film, showing scenes of British scholars where he has put them on the spot making them seem as if they don’t know anything. A great example of this is when he is interviewing Emrys Jones, a well-known Shakespeare academic and he is asked a question to which he responds, â€Å"I don’t really know the answer. Straight away the scene is cut and immediately followed by a different scene of Pacino explaining exactly what the British scholar couldn’t. The constant use of cutting and framing different scene helps Pacino not only challenge the British literary world by giving them the message that he and numerous other Americans which he interviewed o n the streets hold knowledge about Shakespeare. But also, the fact that he can make it into a film as well proves that they are wrong that the actor holds the power to. â€Å"You want to do it wiz your American accent? Shows jarring which stirs the audience’s image that Pacino can produce a successful version of the play. Pacino challenges not only this question, but the actual theory that Shakespeare put forward * REFLECTS – I do believe however that in this aspect of Looking for Richard, Pacino challenges the ideas more. In one scene of the play Pacino and Kimball travel to England and visit the house which Shakespeare grew up in, in hope that they would achieve some sort of epiphany of knowledge about the plays. Linking back to the point that the British believe they ‘own’ the knowledge on Shakespeare. However they find that they did not feel any epiphany or difference at all, proving again that the British do not hold all the power and knowledge over Shakespeare and his plays and that actors like himself can possibly hold more knowledge that the academics and scholars. Para 3 – Richard III – performance * Lady Anne scene – Richard turns from the monstrous Machiavellian character we see throughout most of the play, into a romantic wooer. He uses rhetorical language such as pathos to connect with her emotions which assists him in essentially ‘capturing’ Lady Anne. The fact that Richard had just killed her husband King Edward, with her still being with his coffin just makes Richard seem even more powerful as he still manages to pull Lady Anne into marrying him. Although in this scene Lady Anne proves to hold the knowledge of language too as there is constant stichomythia between the two characters through most of the scene but the line which best shows this is when Richard says â€Å"Bid me kill myself. I will do it. † And Lady Anne responds with â€Å"I have already. † Showing that she can be quite witty too, but not enough for Richard. Pacino shows his power of being director by taking out a lot of the stichomythia between Richard and Lady Anne which removes some of her agency, that causing Richard to seem more powerful, convincing and in control. Para 4 – Looking for Richard performance * CHALLENGES Penelope Allen shows the power of both the actor and method acting. It challenges the fact that women had no dominant rol e in society, whereas in this scene of Looking for Richard, we see her using method acting to get into character in rehearsal and raise her voice over all the other men and women in the room when she says, â€Å"If he were dead, what would betide on me? Pacino provides the point here that using performance to change into character, can allow women to be completely dominant over men in a modern society. * REFLECTS – Both Pacino and Shakespeare’s Richard both change character to essentially get what they want. Richard, wanting power to be king. Pacino wanting power over his film. Pacino, the star actor and also director of his own film, changes character various times throughout the film. One of the key scenes depicting his want for power is when he is being the actor and discussing a few lines in the play with his assistant director, Kimball and Pacino decides to completely change the script. â€Å"G of Edwards heirs the murderer shall be. † Is what the line usually says. But Pacino changes it to, â€Å"C of Edwards heirs the murderer shall be. † This gives Pacino the power as he now has control over both the film and its script. He changes this as he believes it will be easier for people to understand and ultimately once again make the play more ‘accessible’ for the audience.