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Lady Anne - Character and Motivation
Richard III Act 1 scene 2
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Lady Anne - who is she?
Daughter of Warwick
A powerful noble who
changed sides
What is she
doing in this scene? during the Wars of the Roses
Mourning the death
of her father-in-law,
Henry Vl.
Widow of the Prince of Wales
Also killed
by Richard
She is with the open coffinhttp://marrasouk.com
Killed in battle
by Richard
So she doesn’t like Richard?
Correct!
How does she show this in the scene?
the devil.
She uses direct
language, linked
thou dreadful minister of hell
to evil
She refers to the crimes
Richard has committed
Foul devil
thy hell
thy butcheries
Thy is repeated for emphasis
thy heinous deeds
in the speech
“thy” and “ thou”, the 2nd person singular,
used here by Lady Anne to show
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contempt for Richard
Anne is not afraid of Richard
She accuses him of making
Henry’s corpse bleed
’tis thy presence that exhales this blood
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
R= Fairer than tongue can name thee
A= Fouler than heart can think thee
She refuses to
give way to him
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She makes quick-witted
responses to Richard,
involving word-play
She directly accuses Richard of killing her husband
and King Henry
Didst thou not kill this King?
Queen Margaret saw
Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood –
She is angry when Richard is sarcastic to her
Dost grant me, hedgehog?
And thou unfit for any place but hell!
So Anne is holding out
against Richard
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So how does Richard win her over?
1. Introduces sexual element - lie with
Your bed-chamber.
2. He says her beauty was to blame
Your beauty that did haunt me in my sleep
But she is still not won over.
1. argues back
If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide,
These nails should rend that beauty from my cheeks.
She is in a
2. Spits at him Highly unusual act for an state of grief where she
aristocratic lady
http://marrasouk.com does unthinkable things
Richard tries different lines of argument with Anne
1. He says he has suffered
Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt tears,
She is scornful
2. He brings in the sexual element again
Teach not thy lip such scorn – for it was made
For kissing, lady,
This seems to wear
Perhaps at this point
Lady Anne down
she feels attracted towards him, despite herself.
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Richard takes a calculated step
I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,
She has the opportunity
And humbly beg the death upon my knee.
to stab him
She takes his sword
But she doesn’t kill him
She says
in her hands
even though he encourages her
Arise, dissembler.
This is the turning
point and later
A milder insult than
in the scene she
Get up hypocritethe
ones
she
used
earlier
accepts his ring
she’s not fooled
It shows he’s
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winning
her over
Why does Anne allow herself to be persuaded by
Richard?
Which do you think are the most important?
Richard's powers of persuasionShe’s
in
a
state
of
grief
Anne is sexually
Anne feels guilty
- maybe
it was
her beauty
he
doesn’t
give
up.
and istonotRichard
in
attracted
that made Richard kill her husband
control of her emotions
The play takes place in a bloodyRichard
and violent
setting.e.g. to
is attractive
Brother
kills brother.
People
are executed
for minor reasons.
Fear
: if you’re
Richard’s
friend
other characters
in the play
to bleed. Buckingham,
you’reHenry
safe! Vl’s corpse startsHastings,
In this setting a woman agreeing to marry her
husband’s
Clarence
killer is yet another shocking event.
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Richard lll SATs 2008
Character in section 2
A4s4 lines 199-342
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Two characters in this section
Richard
What does Richard want?
To marry Queen
Elizabeth's daughter
also called
-Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth
What Queen Elizabeth does want?
To stop Richard
marrying her daughter.
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The audience wants
to know who will win
In some ways this is similar to section 1
In section 2 Richard
is asking Queen
Elizabeth if he can
marry her daughter,
Elizabeth
after he has
murdered her sons
In section 1 Richard
was trying to get
Lady Anne
to marry him, after
murdering
her husband
Why marry Elizabeth?
His wife Anne is dead
Because Richmond wants to marry her
- it will strengthen his claim to the throne
Will he be successful this time?
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Richard tries to take command of the situation
Stay, madam.
I must talk a word with you.
But Elizabeth
knows what he is after
I have no more sons…for thee to slaughter!
She says her daughters will be…
praying nuns, not weeping queens –
She warns Richard to keep away
Don’t aim
levelhttp://marrasouk.com
not to hit their lives.
How does Richard try and win her over?
With compliments
about her daughter
Slander myself as false
to Edward’s bed,
Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious.
Elizabeth threatens to say
that her daughter is illegitimate
Why might this stop
Richard wanting to marry her? Her life is safest
only in her birth.
Elizabeth points out
that birth didn’t
save herhttp://marrasouk.com
sons
He argues
back
Richard protests his innocence
You speak as if that
I had slain my cousins.
She picks up on cousins
Elizabeth responds angrily
Plays on the word cheated
Cousins, indeed! And by their uncle cozened –
Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life!
The alliteration
It shows that
builds up the rhythm
Elizabeth will
She’s angry at her loss and stand up to
Richard
protective of her daughterhttp://marrasouk.com
To the powerful
conclusion
to the line
Elisabeth accuses Richard: he is responsible for
the death of her sons
He may not have
held the knife that..
lanced their tender hearts,
Her grief is so
wild that she wishes
Richard lies to cover up
But he gave
the order
my nails were anchored in thine eyes
Elizabeth has been provoked
and is now on the attack
He’s just had the princes murdered
I intend more good to you or yours
Than ever you or yours by me were harmed!
What tone of voice would the http://marrasouk.com
actors use to say these lines?
Richard is trying to win Elizabeth over by making
promises for her children
dignity and height of fortune,
advancement
But Elizabeth rebuffs him
Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads?
Richard is devious he hasn’t yet mentioned
marriage or her daughter
She’s sarcastic
endow a child of thine
He keeps
it vague
he continues to declare
his innocence
Whichhttp://marrasouk.com
thou supposest I have done to thee.
Richard now becomes more direct
from my soul I love thy daughter.
Elizabeth plays on
words in her reply
Elizabeth
That thou dost love my daughter ‘from’ thy soul.
uses ‘from’
in the sense of So from thy soul’s love didst thou love her brothers,
“far away”
When Richard suggests
What, thou?
he will make her
daughter his Queen,
Elizabeth is contemptuous
Familiar, dismissive
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Richard suggests Elizabeth can teach him how to
woo her daughter
Elizabeth’s response
is ironic
Richard
Send to her, by the man that slew her brothers,
Richard knows
A pair of bleeding hearts. Thereon engrave
he’s being mocked ‘Edward’ and ‘York’. Then haply will she weep.
Why hasn’t it worked this time?
Say that I did all this for love of her.
But not this time
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When he tried this
line earlier with
Lady Anne it worked
Richard tries to convince Queen Elizabeth that he
should marry her daughter
Almost admits he
killed the princes
Richard sees things in terms of the throne
If I did take the kingdom from your sons,
To make amends I’ll give it to your daughter.
This is unlikely
to convince
Elizabeth
An
unsophisticated
argument
Richard never refers
to her by name
He also says
They are as children but one step below,
Another
a grandmother
All this does is emphasise
is similar to a mother unconvincing that Richard has killed her sons
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argument
Up until now Richard has been antagonistic to the
Queen’s family
He promises to
call the Queen's
son Dorset, “brother”
and give him
high promotions and great dignity.
Richard becomes lyrical
He wants Elizabeth The liquid drops of tears that you have shed
to woo her
Shall come again, transformed to orient pearl,
daughter for him
Acquaint the Princess
With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys.
Ironic when we consider whathttp://marrasouk.com
has happened to his wife Anne
Richard’s speech builds up to a climax
He sees himself as
He boasts that he will
the conquering hero
beat the rebel Buckingham
Bound with triumphant garlands will I come,
Links victory in
And lead thy daughter to a conqueror’s bed –
battle to victory
in love
But the Queen is unconvinced
he that slew her brothers and her uncles?
At the end of this
Richmond marries
He
does
not
section Richard has
her at the end
marry
her
not persuaded the Queen.
of the play.
daughter Elizabeth.
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