We analyzed the scene where Lady Anne is persuaded to be bed and wed by King Richard, who for the record is no hottie. My professor had us look at this scene to show us how skillfully Shakespeare filled it with tension and change, without moving to a different scene.
From most of this scene, Lady Anne is a seething, enraged and despaired woman whose husband and father-in-law have been murdered by King Richard...and everyone knows he did it.
She curses him to hell three times. She refers to him as "an infection of a man", the "Devil", and calls upon heaven and earth to eat him alive. That's some pretty intense hate right there.
Yet in a matter of a few pages of dialogue, (which roughly equals a few minutes of acting) Lady Anne goes from condemning Richard to hell--->to agreeing to be his wife and lover.
Impressive! I thought to myself. How did good old Bill do this?
The explanation seemed feasible at first. But on second thought, I realized the explanation was on the weak side, and not that feasible at all.
He flattered her. He flirted. He was sweet as cherry pie. He played on Lady Anne's vanity and told her she was a beautiful angel. Which is great, but how are we to believe that a woman whose husband and father-in-law were slaughtered by this disgusting, evil dude is going to turn on a dime and hop into bed with him 'cause he told her she was pretty?
That's one helluva vain person who will compromise themselves and their loved ones that fast for some cheap flattery, no?
Bill's bust has been on a pedestal for so long, and all writers are made to stop and acknowledge him before they write their own sonnet, or poem, or play, or whatever. That's fine and cool, but I don't think he's the 'be all end all' of the written word.
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