Analyzing Reality
An extrmely unrealistic part of Richard III is in Act 1, Scene 2. In this scene, Richard woos
Anne, who agrees to marry Richard. However, Richard has already killed Anne's last husband, her father, as well as her father-in-law King Henry VI. Anne hates Richard; in fact, when Richard appears at Henry VI's funeral, Anne excaimes, "Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell" (I.ii.46), "Thou unfit for any place, but hell" (I.ii.108) and "Thou dost infect mine eyes"(I.ii.147). Clearly Richard is not on her list of close friends. However, a few lines later, in the same scene, Anne agrees to marry Richard. The reason is that Richard claims he will kill himself if she doesn't. From the earlier lines we might think she would jump at the chance, but instead she says, "Though I wish thy death, I will not be thy executioner." (I.ii.184-5). Then she accepts Richard's ring, saying, "To take is not to give" (I.ii.202). It seems extremely out of character for her to do that. The reason could not of been because she liked Richard, because she hated him. She could not have thought he was attractive, because he had birth defects that are referenced to numerous times throughout the play. So why did Anne do this? Only Shakespeare could know.There is no buried treasure.
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