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Each age creates its own monsters, and each vision of monstrosity is a reflection of the anxieties of the age. Write on Shakespeare’s play Richard III, and one set film from the text (Starship Troopers), and one other set work from the unit (Film-A Clockw
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Each age creates its own monsters, and each vision of monstrosity is a reflection of the anxieties of the age. Write on Shakespeare’s play Richard III, and one set film from the text (Starship Troopers), and one other set work from the unit (Film-A Clockwork Orange). There are character elements that can be found in most villains in literature, such as malicious intent and anti-social behaviour, but the distinguishing traits derive from the contexts in which they were created. The visions of monstrosity that arise from the ages are a reflection on the fears and anxieties of the time. William Shakespeare’s Richard III is a prime example of this. The main protagonist and villain, Richard of Gloucester is a man driven by ambition who will stop at nothing to secure the throne of England for himself. Written at a time when England had only recently emerged from civil war, a character who would see civil war for a century more if it achieved him the crown would certainly be a vessel for the anxieties of the age. Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and Paul Verhovan’s Starship Troopers are modern texts that present visions of monstrosity in the form of governing bodies. Created at a time where politics are extremely prominent and controversial, the texts raise questions of morality and ethics in politics. In Shakespeare’s Richard III, the main protagonist and villain, Richard of Glouchester, is portrayed as a “brutally comic and terrifyingly diabolical evil,” “the essence of unstoppable ambition” . While there is no certain way to determine whether this depiction is justified in history or not, we can try to understand the age that produced such a vision of monstrosity. In assessing Shakespeare’s vision of monstrosity, we will look at not only the play, Richard III, but also the context in which it was written. Richard III is the fourth in a genre of Shakespeare’s plays known as the histories, which deal with the events in England’s history after the Norman conquest in 1066. Although these events have been ‘spiced up’ somewhat in Shakespeare’s plays for dramatic purposes, they are largely historically accurate because they were based on actual histories, particularly the works of Sir Thomas More. Most academics agree that that Mores’ history is “purposive propaganda” that followed the official party line of the Elizabethan era (descendants of Henry VII, who vanquished Richard III), and while we are not assessing whether or not Richard was evil, this does suggest that Shakespeare’s play, like Mores’ history, was a product of the views and conventions of the age. To suggest Richard was anything but a monster would have been extremely dangerous. To many, the character of Richard in Richard III is a thoroughly compelling “exploration into the psychology of evil”, a character that proves to be “highly self-reflective and complicated-making his heinous acts all the more chilling.” There are many examples of Richard’s monstrosity that can give us an indication of what some of the anxieties of the Elizabethan era were. Richard’s crimes and murders are fearsome enough, but it is his intelligence and his charm that make these acts all the more frightening. In Henry VI, where Richard first appears, he states, “Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile” , and indeed this proves correct in Richard III, as his powers of manipulation and deceit play a large part in his murders.
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