The night before the Battle of Bosworth Field, Richard has a dream in which he is tormented by all the people he had killed to achieve and secure his throne. Upon awaking he exclaims: "O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!"(5.3.191). In the rest of the speech Richard argues with himself over his guilt in the murders -- and whether he should be pitied. Consider as well the speech of the Second Murderer about conscience in Act 1, Scene 4. When the Second Murderer feels a spasm of conscience and hesitates to carry out the murder of Clarence he complains about it;
I'll not meddle with it. It makes a man a
coward: a man cannot steal but it accuseth
him; a man cannot swear but it checks him; a man
cannot lie with his neighbor's wife but it detects
him (1. 4. 139-42).
In fact that Murderer does not participate in the murder or even the rewards of the deed. Given the many acts of treachery, deceit and murder in this play, what is the play saying about conscience and morality? Is it an impediment to success? A necessary bulwark against immorality? Important but ineffective? Effective but problematic? Are these two speeches in agreement -- or this a debate across the acts of the play and social classes of the characters? What the point of "coward conscience"?
I think this idea of a conscience plays a huge role in this play, especially with Richard. While we don't see him using it in most of the play, there is always that question if he even has one and what part does in play in his life. He does unspeakable things all in the name of power and yet, he doesn't seemed bothered by it.
ReplyDeleteI believe he does have a conscience, even when he is killing this other characters. I think he tucks the guilt away and does it anyway. I mean, he did have other people kill the kings for him. This way, he would feel less guilty about them getting killed. He figures if he isn't the one doing the deed, then he won't feel as bad.
Of course we eventually see in the end that it does get to him and he starts to feel bad. Even in Act 2 Richard starts questioning himself on having his brother killed, "The proudest of you all/Have been beholding to him in his life,/Yet none of you would once beg for his life" (2.2.131). He blames other people for his faults because he starts to feel guilty. Even though he's not dealing with the fact that it was his own fault, it shows he has a conscience, even before the end.
In Richard III, an individual’s character is defined by the extent that they let their conscience lead them in the right path. When we look at people like Richard, who fully acknowledges his conscience path, they are a villain because they blatantly choose to do the opposite of what their conscience tells them to do. For example, Richard awakens from his dream of the ghost of those he killed cursing him and cheering for Richmond and says,
ReplyDeleteMy conscience hath a thousand several tongues,.
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain
…
Methought the souls of all I had murdered
Came to my tent, and every one did threat
Tomorrow’s vengeance on the head of Richard. (5.3.205-7, 216-8)
Richard fully understands that if he goes to battle, his conscience has told him that he will die and that the right thing for him to do is not go to battle, but repent for his sins. While he knows this, he still leads his men into battle just moments after uttering these line. On the other side of the spectrum, people like the second murderer and Richmond acknowledge what their conscience is telling them, and follows through with the path that it leads for them. The second murderer realizes that killing Clarence isn’t the right thing to do, so when his partner doesn’t listen to him and kills Clarence anyway, the second murderer leaves and doesn’t go get the prize that the first murderer had won for them. Richmond, also goes on the righteous path after dreaming of the ghosts of Richard’s victims cheering for him. He declares to his soldiers, “God, and our good cause, fight upon our side.” (5.3.254). Overall, the plays sends a clear message that the person who strives to live in peace with their conscience is the hero, while the one who clearly goes against what is right and just is the villain.
In Richard the question of if a conscience exists or not is almost moot in the face of the moral choice we each face which is to follow our conscience and our idea of what is "right" or continue to pursue personal glory. This suggests that the conscience is separate from the logical mind. For some such as the Second Murderer he is able to let his conscience guide him when his “passionate humor” (1.4.122) does not pass and he remains resolute not to kill Clarence, an innocent man. Second Murderer despite his unfortunate title is truly one of the few in this play that allow their conscience to not only influence but to completely sway his point of view onto the right path. There are far too many examples of people not following their conscience however such as Lady Anne. Whilst she attends the funeral casket of her dead husband she is approached by his blatant and irreprehensible murderer Richard III. In this scene she allows calmly assess the points of Richard’s argument and agrees to marry the man who killed her late husband simply because it furthers her goals of retaining the power for her family. This blatant disregard of her conscience leads her to a fate similar to Richard’s when he too disregards his conscience as she is later murdered by Richard. Richard’s reckoning comes later when he disregards the warnings of the subconscious dream he receives and rather than turn from his murderous course he continues to fight on for his own power and glory.
ReplyDeleteI think the theme of conscience in the play is shown only when it is too late. When the reader first sees any show of conscience in the play it is in the second murderer’s internal struggle with killing Clarence. This was pointless because death of Clarence was inevitable since the first murderer did not have any moral dilemmas with murder. The other major expression of conscience, shown in Richard, only occurred after he had already killed all of those people and deliberately disregarded this warning as he marched into battle. These ideas lead me to think that this theme is important but ineffective. Both Richard and the second murderer wish for their feelings of guilt to pass in the second murderer saying, “I hope this passionate humor of mine will change” (1.4.121-2) and in Richard calling his conscience “coward” (5.3.191). Evil wins out overall in this play with little influence from there character’s morality. I think it is definitely important that Richard, the king, had experienced guilt after having committed mortal sins while the second murder, a commoner’s guilt saved him from committing a mortal sin. Shakespeare portrays the murderer with a stronger moral compass than that of the king which pointedly speaks to the disorganized greater chain of being. Richard blatantly turning his back on morality while the murderer chooses to do the right thing is putting the murderer above Richard like the wren being above the eagle. The show of conscience is important in showing the shifting social classes but has no great significant effects on the major actions of the play.
ReplyDeleteIn Richard III, regardless of the amount of evil acts one has committed and the number of times they try to convince themselves that they can sleep soundly, conscience creeps in. Richard is a perfect example of a character that convinces himself that he was destined to be villainous, yet he cannot escape his conscience. Even if his conscience doesn't directly effect his actions, it effects his mindset.
ReplyDeleteRichard’s opening soliloquy explains the roots of his evilness. Because he, “cannot prove a lover/ To entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain/ And hate the idle pleasures of these days.”(1.1.28). He’s evolved with the mindset that because he was born deformed, he must grow to be evil. He tries to convince himself that because he’s “deformed, unfinished, and sent before my time” (1.1.20), he has the right to kill anyone he wants. Therefore, he rationalizes and plots against the king to reach personal success.
However, when Richard has his dream before the deciding Battle at Bosworth in Scene 5, it reveals that although he buries his conscience beneath more murders, he knows what he’s done is wrong and he cannot ignore it. He says, “Have mercy, Jesu!”(5.3.190). This plea shows that Richard is fine killing people when there aren’t blatant, visible consequences, but he knows that come Judgment Day, he will be damned for the crimes he has committed, and that frightens him because he cannot turn back or resurrect the people he’s killed. He fights the battle, but he is mentally punished by the dream.
Richard refers to his guilt as “coward conscience” (5.3.191) because it’s putting a hindrance on his evil plan and character. His acknowledgement of his wrongdoings goes against the villain he has tried to shape himself into.
Even if Richard doesn’t want to admit he has a conscience or allow it to get in the way of his success, it is impossible to escape his sins. The dream in Scene 5, where Richard’s thoughts are in their purest forms, is an outlet for Richard’s guilty conscience and makes him realize that after all he’s done, “There is no creature loves me,/ And if I die no soul will pity me.”(5.3.12).
So yes, no one loved Richard when he was crippled and in the shadows, but at that time, he was not ultimately damned on Judgment Day. The more people he kills and the deeper a hole he digs himself into, the more unavoidable his conscience becomes and the more it gets in the way of his villainous persona. Shakespeare makes a point to show that even if it’s too late to do anything about it, conscience is inescapable, and perhaps, it’s a form of punishment in itself.