Clarence's Speech in William Shakespeare's Richard III

Clarence's Speech in William Shakespeare's Richard III

The speech I am going to be examining is from one of Shakespeare's

plays, Richard III. It is the part of the play where George, Duke of

Clarence is explaining a prophetic nightmare he had whilst being

locked in the Tower of London.

Richard III was a real king of England, but had been killed in battle,

around 100 years prior to when Shakespeare wrote this play. At the

time of writing, in 1594, the queen was Elizabeth I, a Tudor. One of

the Queens ancestors, Henry VII, had killed Richard III on Bosworth

Field. Shakespeare, to make sure he was in favour with the Queen, made

Richard's character into a complete villain, as well as physically

deformed.

The play takes place before Richard becomes king. It is about how

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, plots to eradicate anyone standing in the

way of him becoming king. In order for Richard to come to the throne,

after his brother Edward IV), he must dispose of the three people due

to inherit the throne before him: his brother, George, and his

nephews, Edward and Richard.

To do this, Richard starts a rumour that someone whose name begins

with 'G' will murder Edwards's heirs. Clarence (George) is then

imprisoned in the Tower of London by the King as he is seen as a

threat. Richard promises Clarence that he will go and plead to the

King for him, but instead, he just creates more suspicion. Richard

hears news that King Edward is very ill, and realises he must act

quickly. He plots with two executioners to kill Clarence.

One night, whilst locked in the Tower, Clarence has a nightmare and

describes it to his jailor, Brackenbury. Shak...

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...is a placed commonly feared by the guilty minded as they worry that it

actually exists and they may be sent there after death. As Clarence's

dream was all about death, and he had a guilty conscience, it isn't

unexpected that he would worry about hell as religion was important at

this time and it would have been drilled into people about the

consequences of sin.

As I have mentioned previously, Clarence's dream was prophetic, a

prediction, a warning. The next part of the play is the death of

Clarence (off stage). The audience is told that he is drowned in a

butt of Malmsey wine. The dream is a warning the Richard is going to

kill him by drowning. In the dream Clarence pushes him overboard,

killing him, and in the play, Richard has him drowned. This is

Shakespeare's way of telling the unaware audience Clarence's future.