History- Richard III FINISHED

I love the little chart for this book with the little cartoon people on it.

Passage- Act 1, Scene 4:

BRAKENBURY
Why looks your grace so heavily today?

CLARENCE
O, I have pass'd a miserable night,
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days,
So full of dismal terror was the time!

BRAKENBURY
What was your dream? I long to hear you tell it.

CLARENCE
Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower,
And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy;
And, in my company, my brother Gloucester;
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
Upon the hatches: thence we looked toward England,
And cited up a thousand fearful times,
During the wars of York and Lancaster
That had befall'n us.
As we paced along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
Methought that Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling,
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.
Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea:
Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
Which woo'd the slimy bottom of the
deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.

This passage foreshadows one of the most important events that takes place in the play: the drowning of Clarence after his brother Richard III (Gloucester) orders him killed. In the Tower of London, the same place where he is later murdered by order of his brother Richard III, Clarence (Richard's brother) describes a nightmare he had to the keeper of the tower. In this nightmare, Clarence dreams of escaping the tower and fleeing by ship with Richard, only to be betrayed by his own brother on the journey to France and thrown overboard to die. His conversation with the keeper of the tower shows the trust he has for his brother and the denial that Richard in fact wants him dead. He is refusing to listen to his subconscious that is warning him that he will soon be betrayed. Because of this denial of Richard's evil capabilities (since they seem far too horrible for anyone to believe), this passage contributes to the evil and horror that the audience sees in the character of Richard.

Commentary on the History Genre:

Unlike the fiction-based genres of tragedy and comedy in Shakespearean plays, histories are based on true events, which makes for a unique approach to reading them. Although there are many similarities between tragedies and comedies written by Shakespeare (the main characters almost always die, there is usually a "tragic hero" and clear sides of "good" and "evil," many characters are betrayed and brutally murdered, etc.), the major difference between the two is the way the plays end. With tragedies, the story often ends on a hopeless note, not leaving any room for closure or uplifting events since all the characters, heros included, have inevitably all met their untimely deaths by the end and leave nothing else to be said or done. Histories, contrarily, are based on real events, so the ending of the plays such as Richard III, although the main characters die in this play as well, still leave room to continue the story, as true history never has an "end."

Personal Reflection:

When comparing the Shakespearean plays in the tragedy genre to those in the history genre (namely Macbeth to Richard III), I strongly favored Richard III to Macbeth. While Macbeth to me seemed like nothing more than a predictable plot filled with certain death for every character involved, Richard III, because of its basis on actual English historical events, left a lot more at the end to consider. Even though I don't have a very broad knowledge of English history, knowing that the events that occurred in Richard III led to so many more stories to be told of different rulers, struggles for power, wars, etc. made it much easier for me to enjoy the play and stay focused on reading it. When reading Macbeth, I found it so difficult to pay attention to the play while reading it because, knowing the events were fictional, it seemed like it was extremely exaggerated and just overdone with the murder and death. Richard III on the other hand, was far more interesting to me since I knew it was based on actual events, giving me more to think about (fathoming how a real historical figure could have been as evil and corrupt as King Richard III).