Richard III - Duchess of York

1) What impression do you get of how the Duchess of York feels about Richard? In her eyes, how does he compare with her other sons, Edward IV and Clarence? (Act II, scene ii and scene iv) Note down some of the images she uses to describe him.

Oh, that deceit should steal such gentle shapes,

And with a virtuous visor hide foul guile!

He is my son, yea, and therein my shame;

Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit.

__________________________________________________

Duchess of York: (Speech directed to Queen Elizabeth)

Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow

As I had title in thy noble husband.

I have bewept a worthy husband's death,

And lived with looking on his images;

But now two mirrors of his princely semblance

Are cracked in pieces by malignant death,

And I for comfort have but one false glass

That grieves me when I see my shame in him.

Thou art a widow; yet thou art a mother,

And hast the comfort of thy children left;

But death hath snatched my husband from mine arms

And plucked two crutches from my feeble hands,

Clarence and Edward. O, what cause have I

(Thine being but a moiety of my moan)

To overgo thy woes and drown thy cries?

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

__________________________________________________

Duchess:

Accursed and unquiet wrangling days,

How many of you have mine eyes beheld!

My husband lost his life to get the crown,

And often up and down my sons were tossed

For me to joy and weep their gain and loss;

And being seated, and domestic broils

Clean overblown, themselves the conquerors

Make war upon themselves, brother to brother,

Blood to blood, self against self. 'Ay,' quoth my uncle Gloucester,

'Small herbs have grace; great weeds do grow apace.

The Duchess of York, Richards mother makes it apparent to the reader how much she is shamed by her remaining son Richard for having killed both of his brothers. O, preposterous

And frantic outrage, end thy damned spleen,

Or let me die, to look on death no more!

In this scene the Duchess mentions that Richard was ignominious, even in his youth. '

And since, methinks, I would not grow so fast,

Because sweet flow'rs are slow and weeds make haste. All four make ritualistic lamentations. “And with a virtuous visor hide foul guile!”

When the Duchess refers to the deaths of her two dead sons she quotes “And plucked two crutches from my feeble hands, Clarence and Edward.

“I have bewept a worthy husband's death,

And lived with looking on his images;

But now two mirrors of his princely semblance”

She utters that she has lost all those that she loved and has one remaining son, whom she characterises as a false glass and saddens her to see her shame in him.

Duchess:

Good faith, good faith, the saying did not hold

In him that did object the same to thee:

He was the wretched'st thing when he was young,

So long a-growing and so leisurely

That, if his rule were true, he should be gracious. – suggesting that she had only two sons which were her of real value and supported her.

In the next speech, the duchess wishes that she be did so as she wouldn’t have to endure the sight of death any longer. The mourning scene of Elizabeth, the duchess, and Clarence's children is highly ritualistic. When the Duchess quotes “Make war upon themselves, brother to brother / Blood to blood, self against self” she is directing her anger and spite towards Richard or at least his ‘spleen’.

The results of this stress on the already sick king are apparent in Act II, scene ii, in which we discover that Edward has suddenly died.

Approximate Word count = 819
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.