Aug 28, 2008

Richard III | Wooing

In the first analysis of the controversial wooing scene from Act I, scene ii, Denzell S. Smith argues that Richard’s careful choice of words and clever appeals to Lady Anne’s emotions and vanity make the scene believable. In the second selection, Donald R. Shupe applies psychological theories to prove that the wooing is realistic.

An episode in Richard III that has caused much controversy is Act I, scene ii, where Richard successfully woos Lady Anne over the corpse of her father-in-law, Henry VI, whom Richard himself has recently murdered. Nineteenth-century critics found Anne's acquiescence incredible and Shakespeare's invention of the scene inappropriate.

On the other hand, several twentieth-century critics have defended the scene as realistic or have acknowledged its importance to the themes of the play. Harold F. Brooks, for example, remarks that Richard's "breathtaking impudence" is supported by...