Macbeth Act 3 Scene 5 Analysis
Compare the ways in which Shakespeare presents the two kings in these extracts from Richard II and Macbeth.
In the scene from Richard II, Act 3 Scene 2, Richard is informed of the deaths of Bushy, Green and the Earl of Wiltshire, whereupon he begins a monologue discussing death. In the scene from Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 5, Macbeth is informed by a messenger about the movement of the army from the Birnam Woods, which he responds to with anger towards the messenger, before having an internal battle about what to do, and what to believe.
One of the ways the two kings, Richard II and Macbeth, differ in these extracts is in the way they respond to adversity. When Richard is told that Bushy, Green, and the Earl of Wiltshire are dead, he has recently finished making speeches full of power and majesty, but the news of these deaths, of some of his most loyal followers. At this point, Richard is left without an army, and with …show more content…
In Richard II, Richard uses a lot of imagery of death and dying to express how he is feeling at this moment, such as “Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs”. This image suggests a graveyard, with tombstones. Richard is feeling rather sorrowful at this point in the play, and these images suggest his sadness. However Richard intertwines this imagery of death with imagery of kingship, which he has used throughout his monologues in the rest of the play. The lines “For within the hollow crown / That rounds the mortal temples of a king” suggest that Richard is now seeing the crown in a different light, which is a moment of anagnorisis for him. Before it has always been all powerful to him, and now he is realising that the crown itself does not hold the power, and that the wearer of the crown is not immortal, and does not necessarily have the protection of God, he is just like any other human. Richard is finally realising that he is just like any other
In the scene from Richard II, Act 3 Scene 2, Richard is informed of the deaths of Bushy, Green and the Earl of Wiltshire, whereupon he begins a monologue discussing death. In the scene from Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 5, Macbeth is informed by a messenger about the movement of the army from the Birnam Woods, which he responds to with anger towards the messenger, before having an internal battle about what to do, and what to believe.
One of the ways the two kings, Richard II and Macbeth, differ in these extracts is in the way they respond to adversity. When Richard is told that Bushy, Green, and the Earl of Wiltshire are dead, he has recently finished making speeches full of power and majesty, but the news of these deaths, of some of his most loyal followers. At this point, Richard is left without an army, and with …show more content…
In Richard II, Richard uses a lot of imagery of death and dying to express how he is feeling at this moment, such as “Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs”. This image suggests a graveyard, with tombstones. Richard is feeling rather sorrowful at this point in the play, and these images suggest his sadness. However Richard intertwines this imagery of death with imagery of kingship, which he has used throughout his monologues in the rest of the play. The lines “For within the hollow crown / That rounds the mortal temples of a king” suggest that Richard is now seeing the crown in a different light, which is a moment of anagnorisis for him. Before it has always been all powerful to him, and now he is realising that the crown itself does not hold the power, and that the wearer of the crown is not immortal, and does not necessarily have the protection of God, he is just like any other human. Richard is finally realising that he is just like any other