 Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
Table of Contents Act V, Scene 6 The scene is set in the Tower in London. King Henry and Richard are in conversation. Richard mocks Henry for reading a book. Richard asks the Lieutenant to leave and Henry realizes that his time has come and he will be killed. He asks about his son and finds out that Richard has killed him. Hearing this, Henry breaks into stormy passions. He curses Richard for his bloody deed and says his birth is like an evil sign. He elucidates a prophesy that reveals Richard's beginnings as well as what is to come. Richard becomes infuriated and kills him before he can finish. Before dying Henry asks God's forgiveness for him and Richard also. Richard admits that he has no pity, love nor fear and what Henry said was true. He had heard his mother saying that he came into the world with his legs forward. The midwife wondered and the women cried 'O Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth'. Inwardly he warns Clarence and Edward to beware and take care of their lives since Richard has no brotherly love. He may cause their death. With King Henry and the Prince gone, next will be Clarence who is another obstacle to the crown. He takes away the body of Henry. Notes: This scene is most notable ifor Henry's outstanding courage and his condemnation of Richard's character. For once, Henry stands up for himself and speaks freely, without fear. He has nothing to lose now this his wife is in prison and his son dead. That the play has been leading up to this scene is not surprising. Henry stands in the way not only of a York takeover of the crown but also Richard's campaign to have it. That he has killed a king in order to gain closer access to it reveals that Richard will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Gloucester has historically been blamed for King Henry's murder although it has never been proven. However, Shakespeare follows the Tudor view of events in this scene. Although Henry appears heroic in this scene as he stands up to the brutal Richard, he still cannot be called a tragic hero. His nature does not have the trappings of a hero. He is not able to resolve the disorder around him nor come to grips with it. Instead he passively accepts it. He is more a man of contemplation than action and does belong in this world of warfare and political strife. Richard therefore becomes the compelling figure in this scene as he stabs the dead body of Henry and reveals his vicious predatory nature. He agrees with Henry's assessment of him and uses it as a reason to get what he wants. By comparing his deformed body to his maligned mind, he justifies his perverse thinking. "then since the heavens have shap'd my body so, Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it." He isolates himself from everyone because of this singular perception of himself, which gives him the freedom to do what he wishes. Table of Contents | |
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