The Portrayal of Socially Destructive and Over-Ambitious...

Richard, the main character of the Shakespeare’s play, Richard III is portrayed as socially destructive and politically over-ambitious. His destructive potential is depicted by the way he relates with the other protagonists in the play and also by what he confesses as his intentions. Richard’s political ambition is revealed through his strategic calculations based on the order of birth in his York family which puts him third away from the throne. Ahead of him is his elder brother, George Clarence, a barrier which will have to eradicate. His brother, King Edward, is another political barrier, by simply being alive, in power and equally by being the father of the two young princes . Richard’s creates a political mistrust between his two†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Whereas the senecan tyrant rages against virtue in the name of ambition, or lust, R.B.Pierce argues that Richard, ‘like the formal vice, Iniquity’ (III.i.82), thrives by an ironic detachment from all the standards of traditional morality including the claims of the family† (Robert.B.Pierce, 1971:90-91) Shakespeare in his play, Richard III, added a physical deformity to incite people to see his plays. A both deformed and mobile character was found to be a scary mon ster. To begin with, he invites the audience to his unhappy life despite the fact that the no one pays attention to him because others neither find him handsome nor sexually appealing. Richard is not eye-catching due to physical deformity which he vividly describes as the cause of his misfit, and therefore acquires himself the status of a victim. No one pays attention to him because others neither find him handsome nor sexually appealing. But he magnetizes the audience, makes them complicit of his own deeds and dares it to look away. However, as he unfolds his intentions, towards the end of the first soliloquy, the audience is awestruck at how many sordid deeds he is capable of. We are also rendered helpless for we cannot warn his potential victims of the danger which awaits them, but we are captives of Richard’s rhetorical language that generates a special