Power In King Richard III
Human nature desires power and it is this desire that when unchecked by moral constraints becomes a corrupting force. This idea is thoroughly explored in Shakespeare’s 1592 play ‘King Richard III’ and Pacino’s 1996 docudrama, ‘Looking for Richard’. Despite the different contexts of the Elizabethan Era and the post-modern world respectively, the texts share the universal themes of Richard’s pursuit of power and the effect of political power on one’s morality which broadens our understanding of the adverse effect of power.
“The ends justifying the means” is a principle in ‘King Richard III’ where the protagonist Richard, a Machiavellian leader, lusts for personal power causing a complete lack of moral integrity. The extent of his consuming desires …show more content…
This rejected ethical ideology in achieving political power as it was asserted that power should not be obstructed by one’s humanity. This is exhibited in the truncated sentence “infer the bastardy of Edward’s children” with the high modality expounding his need to become King thus challenging the Divine Rights of King as he doesn’t derive his legitimacy from God’s will but from his determination to set his own path, implicitly representing the diminishing power of God over destiny. In the Elizabethan times, all plays, including King Richard III, was to spread Providentialism and the belief of divine retribution. Hence, Shakespeare explores the flaws of Renaissance humanist philosophy in the evocative language and pathos present in “there is no creature loves me” which evokes a sense of pity and through Shakespeare displaying the consequences of ignoring your humanity and morals for power, that is dying alone and unloved, a renewed awareness that defying God for power will consequently permeate one’s conscience and eventually be the cause of one’s downfall emerges. Through the demise of Richard, the power God had in the social hierarchy is reinforced and how power is only momentary yet humans still crave it and it is this greed for power that fragments the inner
“The ends justifying the means” is a principle in ‘King Richard III’ where the protagonist Richard, a Machiavellian leader, lusts for personal power causing a complete lack of moral integrity. The extent of his consuming desires …show more content…
This rejected ethical ideology in achieving political power as it was asserted that power should not be obstructed by one’s humanity. This is exhibited in the truncated sentence “infer the bastardy of Edward’s children” with the high modality expounding his need to become King thus challenging the Divine Rights of King as he doesn’t derive his legitimacy from God’s will but from his determination to set his own path, implicitly representing the diminishing power of God over destiny. In the Elizabethan times, all plays, including King Richard III, was to spread Providentialism and the belief of divine retribution. Hence, Shakespeare explores the flaws of Renaissance humanist philosophy in the evocative language and pathos present in “there is no creature loves me” which evokes a sense of pity and through Shakespeare displaying the consequences of ignoring your humanity and morals for power, that is dying alone and unloved, a renewed awareness that defying God for power will consequently permeate one’s conscience and eventually be the cause of one’s downfall emerges. Through the demise of Richard, the power God had in the social hierarchy is reinforced and how power is only momentary yet humans still crave it and it is this greed for power that fragments the inner