Stage Violence

             People commit crimes for various reasons. For example, many people steal things they could not obtain otherwise. Others, such as drug addicts, steal to get money to buy narcotics or other things they need. Some shoplifters steal for excitement, but others do so because they are poor. Many automobile thieves take cars for joy-riding, but others strip down the stolen autos and sell them. Many embezzlers take money from their employers to meet a personal emergency. The motives also vary in crimes of violence. A robber may kill the victim to avoid detection. Some gangsters torture people to obtain money. A man may beat his wife in a fit of rage in a quarrel. These examples of violence are not only known to happen in real life, but in past literature as well. In Richard III and Hamlet, William Shakespeare conveyed two forms of violence - that which is out of revenge and that which is greed stricken.
             Elizabethans were keenly aware of death and the shortness of life. They lived in constant fear of plague. When an epidemic struck, they saw victims carted off to common graves. Yet death and violence also fascinated many Elizabethans. They flocked to public beheading of traitors. They also watched as criminals were hanged, and they saw the corpses dangle from the gallows for days. Elizabethan literature mirrored the violence and death characteristics of their life. Shakespeare's tragedies, like other Elizabethan tragedies, involve the murder or suicide of many of the leading characters.
             Richard III contains characters which focus on the concept of greed stricken violence. Greed stricken violence is when one commits a violent act, whether it be to kill or injure a person, because of greed. Richard of Gloucester, the main character of Richard III, is a cold-hearted and uncaring man. He wants to be the King of England, but to his dismay many people are to precede the throne before he will. So, in a greed stricken manner, Richar...

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Stage Violence. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 08:35, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/86791.html