HSC English Advanced | Module A ~ Textual Conversations

[Leoni]

Hello,

I've been given my assessment task for Module A- Textual Conversations and wanted to know if anyone could suggest how I would approach this task? What particular resources would I be searching for?

You are to compose an extended response based on the following statement:

The character Richard in Shakespeare’s King Richard III was dramatised into existence through the Textual Conversations that informed Shakespeare’s interpretation. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Thanks!

[angewina_naguen]

Hey, Leoni!

I haven't studied your prescribed texts so I'm hoping someone who has might jump in and help. In essence, the question asks you to what extent you believe Richard's character is dramaticised and for what purposes this serves across the textual conversations occurring between Shakespeare's play and Al Pacino's docu-drama. In approaching this task, I would select the themes and concepts that best suit your judgement and relevant quotes/techniques to accompany them as textual evidence. The scaffold that I would suggest for this essay would be as follows;

Introduction
Body 1- Text 1 + Text 2
Body 2 - Text 1 + Text 2
Body 3- Text 2 + Text 1
Conclusion

This will enable you to explore the "conversation" between the texts and compare the characterisation of Richard across both texts. I would also highly recommend choosing dramatic techniques and film techniques that emphasise the "dramatised" portrayal of Richard, as opposed to using conventional techniques such as similes, metaphors and so forth. The engagement you have with drama specifically will increase if you draw your attention to form-based techniques.

Here are some resources to get you reading and thinking about your texts; 

HSC English Advanced Preparation Course - Module A: 'King Richard III' and 'Looking for Richard'
Shakespeare and the Psychology of Evil: Richard of Gloucester/Richard III in the First Tetralogy of Shakespeare's History Plays
Richard III and the Machiavellian Madness of Postmodernity
Shakespeare on Film- Looking for Richard
Looking Through Richard: Al Pacino and his Call to Shakespeare
Shakespeare Meets The Godfather: The Postmodern Populism of Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard

Hope these help! Let me know if you have any further questions 

Angelina 

 

[Leoni]

Hi Angelina,

I appreciate your reply!

I forgot to mention that this assessment task is purely based on Shakespeare's character Richard in King Richard III.
I've been told to gather research about the textual conversations which informed Shakespeares' own interpretation of Richard III but am not sure how to go about finding information on how Shakespeare got his own interpretation - because it would be impossible to find the resources that Shakespeare would have read to develop his interpretation. Is there any other possible way to find out how Shakespeare's interpretation of King Richard III was formed?

[angewina_naguen]

Hi Angelina,

I appreciate your reply!

I forgot to mention that this assessment task is purely based on Shakespeare's character Richard in King Richard III.
I've been told to gather research about the textual conversations which informed Shakespeares' own interpretation of Richard III but am not sure how to go about finding information on how Shakespeare got his own interpretation - because it would be impossible to find the resources that Shakespeare would have read to develop his interpretation. Is there any other possible way to find out how Shakespeare's interpretation of King Richard III was formed?

Hey, Leoni!

The assessment task just got more interesting  I figured since Richard III is regarded as such a Machiavellian character, Shakespeare must have read The Prince or at least been informed by the ideas in Machiavelli’s seminal work but other than that, you’re right about us not truly knowing where he drew his ideas from. I do have some more resources about Richard’s dramaticisation which you could explore and this might help you achieve a greater understanding of the protagonist through a historically critical lens 

Richard III and Machiavelli
Machiavelli and Shakespeare
Richard III Story VS History-The plan to reach the throne of England.
Richard III: The real king of history, or marvellous theatrical villain?
Have we completed misinterpreted Shakespeare’s Richard III?
How close was Shakespeare’s portrayal of Richard III?
Shakespeare’s Richard III- Myth or Reality?
Shakespeare’s Kings- The Plays VS Reality

Hope these will prove more useful for your assessment and good luck!

Angelina 

[Leoni]

Thank you so much for your help Angelina!   

The resources are very useful!

I think I've got the gist of research required for this task - rather than searching for direct sources Shakespeare would have used to inform his interpretation, it's practical to use what other critiques believe formed Shakespeare's understanding of King Richard III

Thank you once again! I really appreciate your help!   

[Pearlmilktea]

hiya !! You’ve probs already handed in the task but here’s some of my thoughts on Richard (I study the same texts as you ).

Firstly, those resources above are super awesome and I’ll definitely look through them when I get back to school! I think a point to note though is that although Richard is an evil, vice- like character, his multifaceted nature means that Shakespeare challenges the archetype of what it means to be ‘evil’.

So for example, Richard seems to be a victim of nature as declared in his soliloquy at the beginning of Act 1 as well as showing doubts and being self conscious at points in Act 1 (sorry I haven’t studied further). He is not merely pure evil which shows how Shakespeare subverts the medieval vice found in other plays and literature at the time.

As for comparing texts, that’s where The Prince and other literature with an evil character would probs be best as I’m not too knowledgeable about other texts at the time. I do believe it is important to note he does subvert this archetype.

Sorry if the points were not that great but I have holiday brain  Good luck !!

[KC181]

Hello there! Sorry I know you’ve probably handed it in but I guess for future reference hope I can help!

So essentially from my understanding this question would at least be definitely referring to The Prince (there are probably other texts but this is the main one I’m definitely sure about)

Basically, Richard is classified a Machiavellian villain. This is a character archetype based on Niccolo Machiavelli’s treatise ‘The Prince’.

Basically Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ are his teachings on how to gain and maintain power (sounds similar to the goals of Richard right? )
Machiavellie argues someone who is to be successful in maintaining and gaining power have the following traits
- Manipulative
- Pragmatic
- Ambitious - focusing more on self-interest and personal gain
- Lacking in empathy and morality
- Etc (you can search these traits up)

The most applicable in my opinion to this is the trait of pragmatism (which is basically, you are willing to do whatever for your goals) and Shakespeare makes Richard exactly this! Richard is manipulative, deceitful, duplicitous etc because he is pragmatic! Each action he does - in his mind - gets him closer to his goal of achieving the English throne. There’s so much more but this would be extremely lengthy so what I would say is look into Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ focus on his teachings and see where these teachings overlap with the character of Richard.

Hope this helps!

*Note: other Machiavelli characters that may help you to understand the Machiavellian concept include Iago (Othello) and Frank Underwood (House of Cards)