Enabling Richard: The Rhetoric of Disability in Richard III. In William Shakespeare's play Richard III, the body of the king has always been at stake.
The play, which features a protagonist with a famously distinctive body, charts Richard's rise to power and his brief tenure as king. Throughout the play, characters discuss and describe Richard's body in a number of ways: Richard describes himself as "cheated of feature," "deformed," and "unfinished;" Anne and Elizabeth deride him as "diffused infection of a man," "hedgehog," "bottled spider," and "foul bunch-backed toad," terms which all link insult to anomalous and inhuman body.
While this language draws attention to Richard's bodily difference, the play ultimately remains ambiguous about his physical form, staging instead a frenzy of interpretive fervor about what Richard's body really means. To more fully probe the relationship between Richard's deformed body and notions of disability, I want to imagine Richard instead, with deliberate anachronism, as a "dismodern subject. "
Richard III (complete text) [Enter KING RICHARD III in arms, with NORFOLK, SURREY, and others] Richard III (Duke of Gloucester).
Here pitch our tents, even here in Bosworth field. My Lord of Surrey, why look you so sad? Earl of Surrey. My heart is ten times lighter than my looks. [Exit] Richard III (Duke of Gloucester). [Sleeps] [Enter the Ghost of Prince Edward, son to King Henry VI] Prince Edward. [Enter the Ghost of King Henry VI] Henry VI. [Enter the Ghost of CLARENCE] George Plantagenet (Duke of Clarence). [Enter the Ghosts of RIVERS, GRAY, and VAUGHAN] Lord (Earl) Rivers. [Enter the Ghost of HASTINGS] Lord Hastings. [Enter the Ghosts of the two young Princes] Princes. [Enter the Ghost of LADY ANNE] Lady Anne. Richard III: Plot Overview. After a long civil war between the royal family of York and the royal family of Lancaster, England enjoys a period of peace under King Edward IV and the victorious Yorks.
But Edward’s younger brother, Richard, resents Edward’s power and the happiness of those around him. Malicious, power-hungry, and bitter about his physical deformity, Richard begins to aspire secretly to the throne—and decides to kill anyone he has to in order to become king. Using his intelligence and his skills of deception and political manipulation, Richard begins his campaign for the throne. He manipulates a noblewoman, Lady Anne, into marrying him—even though she knows that he murdered her first husband.
He has his own older brother, Clarence, executed, and shifts the burden of guilt onto his sick older brother King Edward in order to accelerate Edward’s illness and death. Richard III - Les chroniques culturelles des étudiants de Paris-Sorbonne. Traduction Jean-Michel Déprats Adaptation Thomas Jolly et Julie Lerat-Gersant Mise en scène et scénographie Thomas Jolly Collaboration artistique Pier Lamandé Collaboration dramaturgique Julie Lerat-Gersant Assistant à la mise en scène Mikaël Bernard Création lumière François Maillot, Antoine Travert et Thomas Jolly Musiques originales et création son Clément Mirguet Création costumes Sylvette Dequest, assistée de Fabienne Rivier Parure animale de Richard III Sylvain Wavrant Création accessoires Christèle Lefèbvre Création vidéo Julien Condemine, assisté d’Anouk Bonaldi Photographies des portraits royaux Stéphane Lavoué Doublure Richard III en création Youssouf Abi Ayad Répétiteur enfants Jean-Marc Talbot Photo : Brigitte Enguerand En savoir plus.
Adèle Fontaine Richard III, pour le résumer grossièrement, met en scène la tentative d’usurpation du trône par le personnage éponyme. Johan Ramirez C’est qui est remarquable dans cette pièce c’est impeccable mise en scène. Lucile Gagniere. Richard III: Study Questions & Essay Topics. Study Questions Is Richard the hero of the play or its villain?
Richard is obviously a villain—he almost single-handedly generates all of the evil and violence in the play. But Richard III makes us reconsider our definition of what a hero is because, as evil as he is, Richard is certainly the play’s protagonist. The entire plot is built around his struggle to become king and stay in power.