Prophecies
Richard III was a play written by William Shakespeare and it focuses around Richard and his scheme to take the throne for himself by killing members of the royal family, his family, and others who would oppose him. The entire play has prophecies and curses through dreams foreshadowing future events. In this essay, I am going to analyze why there are so many prophetic dreams and curses and how all the prophecies impact our experience of the play.
There are three times where dreams are present in the play. These foreshadow the coming events by showing the similar characteristics between the dream and reality, for example, in Act 1 we see to the first of these three dreams. This is when Clarence is imprisoned in the tower and he …show more content…
This dream foreshadows the future where Clarence is stabbed and drowned in a barrel of wine by the executioners sent by Richard. The second significant dream takes place in Act 3 when Stanley experiences a warning in a form of a dream. He dreams that a boar rips off his head, "the boar had razed his helm." (3.2.11) In this instance the boar represents Richard, Stanley tries to warn Hastings but he ignores Stanley's advice. We find out later in the play that Hastings was beheaded on Richard's orders. The third and most important dream occurs in Act 5 right before Richard and Richmond head out for
Richard III was a play written by William Shakespeare and it focuses around Richard and his scheme to take the throne for himself by killing members of the royal family, his family, and others who would oppose him. The entire play has prophecies and curses through dreams foreshadowing future events. In this essay, I am going to analyze why there are so many prophetic dreams and curses and how all the prophecies impact our experience of the play.
There are three times where dreams are present in the play. These foreshadow the coming events by showing the similar characteristics between the dream and reality, for example, in Act 1 we see to the first of these three dreams. This is when Clarence is imprisoned in the tower and he …show more content…
This dream foreshadows the future where Clarence is stabbed and drowned in a barrel of wine by the executioners sent by Richard. The second significant dream takes place in Act 3 when Stanley experiences a warning in a form of a dream. He dreams that a boar rips off his head, "the boar had razed his helm." (3.2.11) In this instance the boar represents Richard, Stanley tries to warn Hastings but he ignores Stanley's advice. We find out later in the play that Hastings was beheaded on Richard's orders. The third and most important dream occurs in Act 5 right before Richard and Richmond head out for