28th Annual Student Research Conference
Shrewd as Serpents and Innocent as Doves: Persuasive Tactics of Speech in King Richard III
Abigail R. Donaldson
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
Few passages of Shakespeare are more famous than the opening lines of King Richard III: "Now is the winter of our discontent/ Made glorious summer by this son of York." Throughout the play, Shakespeare presents the character of Richard as highly manipulative and often deceptive. The mask which the play's Richard shows to the world on the stage is formed of words, which he artfully manipulates into colloquialisms, imagery, rhetoric, and even false innocence in order to hide his true self from his fellow characters and, perhaps, even from us, the audience. This essay will analyze the shifting shape of this word-mask and thus uncover how Richard, Duke of Gloucester and future King of England, persuades all around him to see him as something he is not.
Keywords: Shakespeare, Richard III, English, Theater
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 304-1
Location: MG 1098
Time: 1:00