Reasons We Love Richard III

[poliphilo]

Well, it's mostly down to Shakespeare, isn't it? 

Firstly because his Richard is a fascinating monster and we can't get enough of him.

Secondly because we know the real man is being traduced and this makes us sorry for him and want to work for his rehabilitation.

So Richard wins both ways: (a) because Shakespeare's version of him is so brilliant and (b) because it's so unjust. 

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

In this piece, Michael Anderson comments that Richard III is "Shakespeare's first great comedy."

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's great fun.

Thanks!

[all-unnecessary.livejournal.com]

This has been cracking me up for two days now.

Re: Thanks!

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

It never stops being funny. It's been cracking me up for years, now.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

That's as succinct a summation of the issue as I've seen. The real Richard was probably, as someone once put it, "just your average bloodstained fifteenth-century toughie." But not as bloodstained as Shakespeare would have it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

If a medieval king wasn't a toughie he went to the wall- like the sainted Henry VI. I haven't read deeply but I get the impression Richard was- as toughies go- a pretty good egg.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

They released a photo of the skull -- it has an underbite consistent with depiction on the Society of Antiquaries' "arched frame" portrait.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I just saw that. I'm impatient to see the facial reconstruction.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

There's a pretty uncanny resemblance between the arched portrait and photos I've seen of Michael Ibsen -- particularly around the lips, jaw, and chin.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

But even with all the Ricardian apologetics, there's no getting away from the fact that he murdered his way to the throne (admittedly, he wasn't the first or the last to do that).

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Killing people is what kings (and presidents and prime ministers) do for a living.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Right. His big brother wasn't exactly saintly. Nor his successor (not to mention the rest of the Tudors).

Henry VII knew how to deal with troublesome young relatives. Keep them in the Tower until they're no longer children, and THEN kill them.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Or in Henry VIII's case find everyone with Plantagenet blood and kill them, except Cardinal Pole, naturally, as he was unlikely to be any threat on the breeding front.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

If the choice lies between a murder or two and future civil unrest it could be argued that the murders are morally justified.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

There's the portrait, as well.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I find it an attractive image. He looks nervy and sensitive. I like the way he seems to fiddling with his pinkie ring.