Soliloquies in Richard III

Thèmes abordés

Shakespeare, Richard III, Soliloquies, Monologue, Soliloquy, Théâtre, Littérature

Résumé du document

Ce travail propose une analyse de trois principaux soliloques de la pièce de Shakespeare ayant pour titre Richard III. Quelle est la fonction d'un monologue/ soliloque? Comment Shakespeare les utilise-t-il pour nous montrer la vraie nature de ses personnages?

Extraits

[...] So close to death Richard finally starts to act like a human being, he is horrified. It is certainly the very first time Richard is afraid of something. He is scared of his conscience because it makes him realise what his life has been and how it is probably going to end. It turns out his conscience is really tyrannical: conscience hath a thousand several tongues,/ And every tongue brings in a several tale,/ And every tale condemns me for a villain.”(194-196). The gradation confirms the impression that Richard is desperate. [...]

[...] Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a pertinent example of this principle. After Caesar's death, both Brutus and Anthony give a speech to the crowd. Anthony's is in verse whereas Brutus's is in prose. Anthony speaks better and he uses more sophisticated figures of rhetoric. Even if the speeches are given at the beginning of the play, they prefigure Anthony's ascent to power and Brutus's death. The more powerful one's language is the more chances he has to win. Richard's opening speech (I.i.1-41. Richard III. Ed. E. A. J. Honigmann. [...]

[...] Richard is now afraid of dying in the battle. If the first soliloquy is a great example of self- characterisation, the last one is a great example of self-revelation. Richard wakes up from his “fearful dream” (V.iii. 213). The soliloquy opens with exclamatory sentences: “Give me another horse! Bind up my wounds! / Have mercy, Jesu!”(178-179) during which Richard is not fully awaken. As in many of Shakespeare's plays, dreams have a considerable importance on the plot and they often are predictions. [...]

[...] Richmond does not need this because he is already acting for the good of the nation. That is why his soliloquy is much simpler and shorter. He does not need to convince anybody of his noble intentions. His final speech at the end of the play proves that Richmond is, as opposed to Richard, a sincere and honest man. He says to the crowd what we, as an audience, know he really thinks, as expressed in his soliloquy. Richard's last soliloquy occurs after the ghosts' episode (V.iii. 178- 207). [...]

[...] It can suggest that Richard is jealous of him. Speaking of his brother using the pronoun shows Richard's need to focus everyone on his own person. The second part (14-31) is Richard's self-portrait, a portrait that is completely negative. Beginning with this part clearly contrasts with the first one and shows that Richard is completely different from Edward. Richard is now going to speak about himself without referring to anyone else. He cannot stop using words directly referring to his person: Richard seems to find this self-observation exciting. [...]