ANALYSE HOW THE CENTRAL VALUES PORTRAYED IN SHAKESPEARE’S
‘KING RICHARD III’ ARE CREATIVELY RESHAPED IN AL PACINO’S
‘LOOKING FOR RICHARD’.
Analysis of William Shakespeare’s play ‘King Richard III’ (KRIII) and Al Pacino’s 1996
docudrama ‘Looking for Richard’ (LFR) reveals inherent human values within the texts
remain universally relevant despite their differing contextual influences and audiences.
Pacino’s LFR draws upon a modern American context to reshape the political, social and
religious values present in KRIII, while introducing further values relevant to a modern
American perspective. Pacino take’s advantage of KRIII’s adaptability to create a more
accessible form to relate to this modern American perspective. The concern of the desire for
power is evident in either text in relation to their respective contextual influences. KRIII
explores an individual’s pursuit of power through a reflection of the views of a theocentric
Elizabethan society, while LFR draws on modern political crises etc….
The concern of the desire for power is evident in either text in relation to their respective
contextual influences. KRIII explores a Machiavellian desire for power and depicts this as a
catalyst for social chaos and a downfall of ‘the Vice’. Characterisation of Richard as ‘the
Vice’, an unscrupulous, ruthless, amoral figure, who pursues power relentlessly serves as
royalist propaganda to promote the Tudor’s right to the throne. Richard’s determination to
“prove a villain” and thus his evidential “fall into the rotten mouth of death” under the force
of God reflects Elizabethan providentialism as his downfall carries the inevitability and
weight of historical fact and divine retribution. Richard’s overthrow, death and the fact that
he must surrender his power to the workings of divine justice reflect Elizabethan society’s
theocentric view that social order is sanctioned by God. Symbolic descriptions of Richard as
a ‘bloody and usurping boar’ and a ‘foul’ ‘toad’ highlight his loss of human qualities and
emphasise his bestial, primitive lust for power.
The relevance of the concern of the desire for power remains constant in LFR. Pacino creates
a visual interpretation of Richard’s evil, villainous nature through the use of entirely black
costuming, understood by modern audiences to represent wickedness, and the use of
chiaroscuro lighting, in attempt to allow a modern American audience to understand the
values of KRIII. Differing from KRIII, LFR presents the desire for power to be part of human
construct. Pacino draws on modern democratic ideals and current political realities to parallel
Richard’s situation to further promote the relevance of KRIII to a modern American
audience. Connections between modern ‘Iran-Contra’ affairs and the scheming between
Richard and Buckingham throughout KRIII are made in LFR by KEVIN SPACEY in attempt
to make Shakespeare more contextually relevant to modern American perspectives and to
allow audiences to understand the nature of the desire for power in KRIII.
The idea of human nature is explored in KRIII and LFR in respect to their contextual
influences. Throughout KRIII, Shakespeare explores humanity and introduces a powerful
deception of what it means to be human. Richard’s initial assertions of himself as
‘unfinished’ and ‘half made up’ suggests he sees himself as less than human. This is furthered
through symbolic descriptions of Richard as a ‘bloody and usurping boar’ and a ‘foul’ ‘toad’
highlight his loss of human qualities and his primitiveness. These become recurring motifs
within the play and they serve to raise the question whether someone can become so corrupt
with evil that they cease to be human anymore. KRIII is responsive to existent tension
between Elizabethan society’s shift in providentialist viewpoints to the emergence of
humanism and the secular exploration of an individual’s free will. This change in thought is
evident in the structure of KRIII as it differs from Shakespeare’s traditional tragedy structure.
KRIII not only addresses providentialism but also humanism through Richard’s overthrow
and death as it reflects both Elizabethan society’s theocentric view that social order is
sanctioned by God and the humanist view that there are inevitable eternal consequences for
human actions.
However, in LFR, Pacino is less concerned with the human condition and instead adopts an
ambiguous interpretation of what it is to be ‘human’. Pacino depiction of Richard differs
from that in KRIII as he is presented as psychologically flawed rather than evil. LFR’s visual
techniques of fluid movements between performance, rehearsal and street interviews have
blurred the boundaries between Richard and Pacino to the extent that the two seem almost
indistinguishable. This allows modern audiences to understand KRIII as they can relate
Richard to the well-known Hollywood actor. Pacino dismisses the moral scale of
Shakespeare’s Richard and introduces an isolated and confused Richard we the audience
sympathise for. Pacino places particular emphasis on the battle scene and in doing so
emphasises Richard’s ability as an effective leader and commander and furthers our human
sympathy towards him.