From Phyllis Gorfain:

This scene journal, from a student in the Fall, 2000, for English 127, From Page to Stage class, serves as a model for excellent work. The writer does a superb job of analyzing performance choices, character, and scene using close textual analysis. You will see here how a careful analysis of the symbolic significance of props, blocking, body language, and other choices is sensitively and rigorously grounded in signals found in the text, which is quoted richly, gracefully, and clearly.

Log of activities

9/14/00 -- Rehearsal #1

Today we met for the first time to work on the scene. We started off by discussing what additions we wanted to make to the assignment in order to give the scene more of a beginning and an end. We added a few lines from the beginning of the scene and the first three lines of Richard's famous soliloquy ("Was ever woman in this humor wooed..."). We then talked a little about our characters and the dynamics of the scene, where Anne changes and why. Our sense was that Richard gets her to change around the time of the monologue. We decided that we should simply read the scene first to get a sense of it. We did that and then ran the scene again, this time improvising blocking. We discussed the blocking that we had come up with and made a few minor adjustments and discussed stumbling points and how to make them more fluid. Finally, we discussed when we would meet again and then ran through the scene once again.

9/15/00 -- Rehearsal #2

Our main thrust during this rehearsal was making the scene more specific. We added some physical interactions. For instance, when Anne says she will "rend that beauty from my cheeks," Rebecca reaches up as if to actually do it and I grab her wrist to stop her for "These eyes could not endure that beauty's wrack." We decided that after Anne says "Out of my sight! Thou does infect mine eyes," she should not look at Richard as if she is at her last line of defense (i.e. avoidance). Rebecca's original instinct for the line "I would they were Basilisks to strike thee dead" was to turn and glare but we decided she should stay with her back to me. Also, to add more motion to the long speech, we added a couple places where I try to get in front of her to look at her and she turns away. We also worked on choices in terms of the lines. I had been letting some of the real Richard out for "Why dost thou spit at me?" but we decided it works better if Richard remains in control of himself the entire time. Rebecca worked on really spitting her lines out and accentuating the word play in some of them (especially in the beginning with the accuse/excuse lines). Rebecca had the idea that Richard should remove Anne's ring and replace it with his own. Now we need a ring. And a sword for that matter, or at least a scary knife.

9/20/00 -- Rehearsal #3

Because I had a Frisbee tournament over the weekend and our schedules (mostly my schedule) did not coincide Monday or Tuesday, this was the first chance we could get to rehearse. Performance tomorrow. Aah! Mostly we worked on making sure out lines were solidly memorized. Because it was raining, we could not practice at the arch so we made do with a lounge in Talcott. Even so, it was amazing how much the scene had grown once we got the scripts out of our hands. Also, having a dagger helped a lot with the sword part. We still don't have a ring. I'll have to search one out. Besides firming up our lines, we also firmed up the blocking. My movement in the beginning had been rather mushy and always seemed to get me in trouble when I needed to be on one side to say "Your bedchamber." We finalized where I would go and on what lines so that wouldn't happen again. We also discussed Richard's talk of tears. We decided that if I'm not going to cry, I should at least sound on the edge of tears or the speech won't make much sense. I think we're in good shape.

Character study

One of the first questions I asked myself in preparing to play Richard was how deformed exactly is this guy? It makes a great deal of difference to his mannerisms (obviously) and also his motives. Shakespeare does not really specify how bad the hunch is. Richard describes himself as being "rudely stamped" and clearly thinks himself extremely ugly. He must have some deformation because other characters do make fun of his hunchback. In the scene where he has Hastings executed he presents his arm as "a blasted sapling withered up," so clearly he has something very wrong with his arm. But which arm? Can he use his arm? I decided I wanted his deformation to be very noticeable but not as bad as he thinks it is. I chose to make my left arm essentially motionless because I am left-handed and it made me feel more powerless than if I had chosen to lose my right arm. I also added a limp as an intentional homage to Kevin Spacey in "The Usual Suspects" because Richard reminds me so much of Verbal (I'll get to this later). I think Richard's deformity has two edges. On the one hand, I think he uses it and accentuates it when it suits him. He is an adept enough judge of human nature to realize that his deformity can be used to put people off guard and make it harder for them to act against him. On the other hand, I think he is very self-conscious about it. This is clear because of the many times he calls himself ugly. This is more than just self-honesty. This is self-degradation. I think Richard has something of an inferiority complex, being the youngest son and deformed at that and it is this that fuels his insane drive to the throne. What else does he gain from his power besides the feeling of being superior? He derives intense pleasure from manipulating people into doing what he wants them to. When he can clearly subordinate someone to his will, he is able to put aside his feelings of inferiority (as is seen in his speech following the wooing of Anne when he says he no longer feels ugly).

I said Richard reminds me of Verbal in "The Usual Suspects." He also reminds me of Satan in Paradise Lost. Richard is extremely intelligent and observant. I think in social situations, possibly because of his deformity, he tends to be a wallflower unless he has some specific goal in mind. He has developed this keen sense of people through years of careful watching. He knows how to get the reaction he wants from people. He is also extremely adaptive and able to change his strategy mid-stride if necessary. This makes him very dangerous. He can convince anyone of almost anything because he can quickly gauge what he or she needs to hear to be convinced. This, like his deformity, is not only a tool but also a hindrance. Because he can turn on and off emotion like a faucet, he is extremely out of touch with his true emotions. Therefore, when legitimate emotions escape, they appear in torrential outpourings. The most extreme example is the speech Richard has after the dream in which all of the people he has killed come back to curse him. His fear and guilt and self-loathing are so strong that he is almost incapable of forming coherent thought. Most of the time, therefore, in order to avoid unpleasant outbursts, Richard relies on emotion substitutes. When he is wooing Anne, he can feel his false love intensely because he puts all of his real feelings away. When he is not acting out an emotion, he relies on his mindless ambition as an alternative for the emotions within him. His ability to act so well relies on his ability to separate from himself and I think he is all too glad to do this. Richard does not like himself and would rather be someone else. He makes a conscious choice in the beginning of the play to be a villain. He chose to be the confident man of power he is in order to escape the self-hating existence he knew.

All of these complex emotional issues would have a major impact on Richard and how he lives his everyday life. While, as I mentioned, I think he would be something of a fly on the wall in social situations, I don't think he likes to be alone with himself. I think he is much more comfortable with someone around for him to be acting for. For similar reasons, I don't think he would partake of tobacco or alcohol very much because he needs to be in control of himself at all times. Any addictive substance would undermine his self-control. Alcohol especially would probably let loose his true nature and he would find this acutely unpleasant. I get the feeling that Richard does not get very much sleep. There is no time when more hidden issues surface. I think Richard would be an insomniac, putting together his diabolical plans and fantasizing about his eventual power all night in order to distract himself.

Despite Richard's clear understanding of the behaviors of the people around him, he has a blind spot and I believe that this causes his downfall. Because he consists of a series of two-dimensional caricatures of human emotion and because he treats people like objects to be won, he ignores them once he has won or lost them. After he has used his powers of persuasion and suggestion to gain an ally, he assumes that ally is with him no matter what. When he then oversteps some moral boundary line (which he cannot see because he is himself so far removed from his own gut feelings), he does not notice his compatriots' apprehension until it is too late and they have already betrayed him. Thus, his "journey" through the play is basically a function of how many people he has won over to his side. In the beginning, when all goes in his favor, he has confidence in himself and a great deal of control over other people. However, as he gains friends, they slowly turn being to turn away from him starting with the murderers in Act I. As the play progresses and he gains more and more supporters, he by extension gains more and more enemies. He then begins eliminating enemies, which only turns more of his friends away from him. By the end of the play the only allies remaining to him are inarticulate thugs. He left everyone else behind at some moral rest stop or another along the way. Even his own mother has turned against him.

Richard's long-term goal in the play is clearly to become king. This, as I've mentioned, carries with it a larger goal of being recognized as superior and powerful. In this particular scene, Richard is not working toward much that will win him the crown. Instead, he is working on his own ego. His goal is to convince Anne to marry him despite all the reasons she has to refuse him and thereby get the rush of power that he feels when he is able to manipulate someone. Within the scene, Richard's goals shift a few times. He tries three basic strategies. First he tries flat out lies. He totally denies having anything to do with the death of Edward and Henry. Anne is too smart and too sharp for such a weak strategy so he decides to make a u-turn and try complete honesty. He admits to killing Henry and tries to convince Anne that he's better off dead anyway. He takes his honesty too far with the brazen "your bedchamber" and loses some ground as Anne recoils in disgust. Stopping this tack abruptly as if scrambling for a foothold with "But, gentle Lady Anne, // to leave this keen encounter of our wits // and fall into something of a slower method..." he tries one more tactic: convincing Anne that the murders were entirely for her love. Though this flatly contradicts everything else he's said in the scene, this appears to be the correct vein. His goal in using this tactic is to confuse Anne to the point where she can no longer hold up her defenses. In this, he succeeds, bewildering her to the point that she accepts his ultimatum "Take up the sword again, or take up me," as her only choice.

Scene analysis

The basic question in analyzing this scene is how the heck does Richard manage to get Lady Anne from cursing his existence to wearing his ring over the course of one scene? As I've already discussed a lot of this, I won't dwell on the subject. The basics: Richard killed Edward and King Henry, Anne's husband and father-in-law, respectively. Richard has decided to be a villain and is particularly full of himself because his plan to set his brother King Edward against his other brother George went extremely well. He decides that, despite the fact that Anne clearly hates him and for good reason, he is going to woo her into marrying him. He meets the funeral procession for Henry and actually has the audacity to bring it to a halt so he can talk to Anne.

Richard's initial purpose is to try and convince Anne that he did not, in fact, kill Edward and Henry. Anne has no clear intention. Clearly she wants Richard to go away but she cannot possibly expect her curses, no matter how fierce to achieve that. Anne is angry and seems to have a vague desire to hurt Richard. As a result, it is Richard who leads the ensuing battle of wit and words. He throws out an excuse for himself peppered with a few compliments for Anne and Anne, in turn, flips it around to insult him. This takes them nowhere and Richard, sensing this, switches tactics and admits to the murders. By this point, Anne seems to be getting more and more worn out. Having used up so much angry energy, Richard's confession does not intensify her attacks but rather seems to reduce them to futile attempts at hiding her grief behind her anger. Richard is able to maneuver her into allowing him the intimacy physical closeness as well as the sharing of her pentameter with "Some dungeon // Your bedchamber." This is the first in a series of forced intimacies that Richard engineers to bewilder and tire out Anne.

Possibly because of her violent reaction to "Your bedchamber" or because he wants to maximize his use of Anne's decline in energy, Richard switches tactics once again, claiming that the murders were done for the love of Anne. At this point Richard is clearly trying to confuse Anne into thinking she had him wrong all the time and he really isn't so bad, just misguided. Anne I think only wants Richard to go away and leave her alone to mourn but she has no way of making him do this so she continues the tool she has, language. The "keen encounter" of wits starts anew. Richard manages to force more intimate moments with "Name him. // Plantagenet. // Why that was he," and "Where is he? // Here." Lady Anne's motive for spitting at Richard can only be a desperate attempt to shut him up. She is running out of verbal energy and he seems tireless so she reverts to more physical means of communication. I think one of the most interesting lines in the whole scene is "Never hung poison on so foul a toad. // Out of my sight! Thou does infect mine eyes." The abruptness of the "Out of my sight!" suggests to me that Anne is breaking down. She is so confused and tired that all she wants is for Richard to disappear and leave her alone. Since he refuses to do so, all she can do is ignore him. And so she does while he spouts his long speech. I think at this point Anne is trying her hardest to blot his existence out of her mind. Richard, on the other hand, can sense that Anne is near the breaking point. He uses the speech not so much to convince her (though it is very eloquently worded) but more to calm her down. He gives her no opportunity for response and so gives her a long time to breath. Richard does not mean for her to fall in love with him as a result of the speech but rather to have too many doubts about whether or not he is lying to be able to act. Having her thus paralyzed, he is safe to hand her a sword and bid her kill him. When Richard eggs her on, brazenly proclaiming his guilt, he knows she cannot kill him. Anne, in her state of emotional exhaustion obviously has no desire to kill a man but feels she is betraying her love for her husband and King when she cannot kill their murderer. Richard's statement "Take up the sword again or take up me" is genius since he can see how confused she is. By offering her concrete choices while her mind is reeling, he limits her possibilities. She cannot kill him to avenge her love so she has already betrayed her husband. She must love Richard. He lays the guilt on for her even more thickly when he tells her that if she tells him to kill himself, she will "be accessory to both their [Richard and Edward's] deaths," as if it is already established fact that she is responsible for Edward's murder. Anne's motives by the end of the scene seem to be to leave as soon as possible and to try, even though she has professed her love for Richard by not stabbing him, not to give him the impression that she has any interest in marrying him. She agrees with everything Richard says in order to get out of there but she tries to make it clear that "to take is not to give." Richard, on the other hand, slyly makes it seem like a done deal, forcing his ring and his heart on her in the phrase "Look how my ring encompasseth thy finger; // Even so thy breast encloseth my heart. // Wear them both for both are thine." Richard has backed Anne into a corner from which she will not escape.

This scene is one of the most famous of the play simply because of the amazing word play in it. It is interesting, however, to note how little to do with the plot is has. Anne is neither a hindrance nor a help to Richard's bid for the throne. Essentially, it seems to serve the sole purpose of presenting Richard's amazing power of persuasion. I do not think it has an anti-female message, as some would interpret it because Anne is an extremely strong woman under extremely difficult conditions. The fact that Richard triumphs is a testament to his abilities as an artist of deception not to Anne's weakness.

Performance choices

This scene actually has more specific stage direction than is usually found in Shakespeare's plays. "She spits at him" and "She looks at him scornfully" are prime examples. It is clear that these must be followed because Shakespeare does not often make such choices for the actor. However, the scene is still open to a wide variety of interpretation. We chose to make Richard seem completely sincere until Anne leaves the stage rather than to have his slimy underbelly exposed. While both are legitimate choices, I believe making the audience aware of Richard's deception weakens Anne too much as a character and fails to demonstrate Richard's true powers. Richard should have the power to convince the audience as well as Anne so he seems that much more sinister when he delivers his infamous lines "Was ever woman in this humor wooed? // Was ever woman in this humor won? // I'll have her but I will not keep her long." Anne, similarly, could be played as a pliable woman with no loyalty. We chose to make her anger and sorrow intense and her eventual capitulation due to confusion and a feeling of being emotionally drained, not because of a true change of heart. We tried to make choices that accentuated Richard's power rather than Anne's weakness. She does not simply accept his ring; he seizes her ring and replaces it with his own. In the moments when Richard touches her (such as when she threatens to scratch her face off and for "Never came poison from so sweet a place"), he takes the liberty and Anne breaks the contact as soon as she can. While nowhere in the script does it specify that Anne turns away from Richard, we felt it was necessary that she do so for "Out of my sight!" We explored two possible options for "I would they [her eyes] were basilisks to strike thee dead!" In one, Anne turns to glare at Richard as if to actually strike him dead. In the other, the one we actually chose, Anne says it more to herself as if she were wishing for the power to kill Richard. We had Anne avoid Richard's gaze throughout the speech in order to illustrate her desperate attempts not to let him convince her. This was not in the script either but since it does specifically say "She looks scornfully at him," I think it pretty safe to assume that Shakespeare imagined her avoiding his gaze as well otherwise this direction would make little sense.

We set out the more general aspects of blocking before we even tried to put the scene on its feet. We decided that because Richard is so devious, he should be in movement a great deal of the time, crossing back and forth and generally being hard to keep a hold on. Anne, on the other hand, stubbornly sticks by the dead body until Richard forces her away. This was not intentional but it is interesting that we had Anne leave the body for "Out of my sight!" in order to get away from Richard because it is here that she begins to crack, almost as if the body was providing some strength that disappears when she leaves it. In thinking about my own movements, I refined the idea of Richard's pacing. I moved around a lot during the lying section of the scene. During the section of brutal honesty, I had him stand directly over the body and face Anne head on. For the all-for-you section, I had him chase Anne around, standing as close to her and she would let him. In my mind, this change of movement would have been conscious on Richard's part as he tries different paths into Anne's heart.

We chose to add a few lines to the beginning and end. This slight alteration of the script was necessary. The lines at the end show Richard in his maniacal glory, nearly cackling over his victory. The lines at the beginning show both Anne's initial hate for Richard and provide a jumping off point for the rest of the scene. Also, we cut out the roles of the pallbearers and many of the witty lines in the beginning. In a production of the whole play, I would think the scene would be best done without cuts though, our scene would have worked in the context of the rest of the play.

The basic logistics of costume, props, and setting were rather simple for this scene. Clearly Anne needed to be in mourning clothes. We chose to dress Richard in light colors to contrast Anne's black and show his total disrespect for the funeral, Henry, and death in general. As for props, the rings needed simply to be rings since the audience could not see them up close. We had the choice of two daggers, once cross-shaped and one more like a cutlass. I chose the cross-shaped one, partly because of the irony of Richard wearing a cross and being constantly called the devil but also for the simple reason that it looked better. We chose the arch as our setting because it is outside but provides a grandiose backdrop that accentuates the heightened structure of the scene. As an afterthought, I think Richard would probably have chosen such a dramatic location to make his entrance and stop the procession simply for effect. Although this was not a conscious choice, I think the words "Ye Are Witnesses" floating above the scene worked very well too and perhaps would fit for the entire play as a message to the audience not to forget the lessons inherent in the story.