Richard III

             The Cold, Fearful Soliloquy of a Condemned King
             The night before battle at Bosworth field, Richard's sleep is disturbed by the ghosts of those he murdered in his scheme to acquire and retain the kingship. The ghosts haunt Richard with prophesies of the justice due him. Startled from sleep, Richard's shaken soliloquy is delivered fearfully and honestly, testifying his gradation of sins and foreshadowing his inevitable demise.
             While dreaming, Richard is reminded of the evil deeds he has performed by the ghosts of his victims. As Richard sleeps his conscience is awake for the first time in the play. The king's waking soliloquy in Act V, Scene 3 is the strongest example of Richard's troubling guilt, failing confidence, and fear of moral retribution. The ambitious Richard's resolve is shaken by the realization that his evil deeds have assigned him a fate that wrests away control. The kings reactions to the ghosts are confused and contradicting; they are the desperate lamentations of a condemned man.
             In Act IV, Scene 4 the first mention of Richard's prophetic dreams is made by Lady Anne to Queen Elizabeth, "For never yet one hour in his bed Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep, But with his timorous dreams was still awakened."" (ll. 82-84). Anne tells of Richard's ongoing nightmares. The dreams are a sign of a guilty conscience upon a decidedly, "subtle, false, and treacherousâ€" villain (I.i.37). Awake, Richard's evil and ambition deny any intrusion of conscience. Asleep, Richard is at his least villainous. With evil in remission, moral consequences
             are no longer eclipsed. Imminent divine punishment plagues the troubled mind of the
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Richard III. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 06:08, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/49331.html