Ambition

Ambition leads to fear as characters are higher in position and title. In short, characters are afraid of the harder fall as they reach higher. With the definition of women based on relations with men, they suffer from the lost of identity and position after death of their husband. Queen Elizabeth expresses fear of ‘happiness is at the height’ with the dying husband. Lady Anne mourns the death of her husband and her father. The fearful height of characters also applies on men like Richard in the hypocrisy and scheming world of politics. Richard shows no peace of mind on his throne and desires more killings to secure his position. He expressed worry over ‘shall we wear these glories for a day?’ Characters are not at ease as they do not deserve their title. Owing to the rotten state with intrigue and scheming, characters’ ambition is a cause of fearful height as falling would be loss of everything they strived for.Ambition will threaten other characters’ lives. Owing to the prevailing atmosphere with such e vilness, like what Scrivener has mentioned “Bad is the world”, where slanders, rumours, libels are unchecked, “and will come to naught when such ill-dealing must be seen in thought”, characters’ lives are threatened. For instance, Stanley is able to sense the increasing danger of Richard, and says “This sudden stab of rancour I misdoubt”. Queen Elizabeth can also sense the approach of the storm. With the imagery of animals and blood, she describes Richard as the “tiger”, which reveals her fear of Richard. S he is so helpless that she can only say “welcome destruction, blood, and massacre; I see, as in a map, the end of all.” The predictable outcome is only the reoccurrence of the bloody deeds, especially with the deliberate choice of diction “map and the hunting imagery: “The tiger now hath seiz’d the gentle hind”. What characters expect can only be death. Anne can foresee her destiny to die, since she realizes that Richard “hates me for my father Warwick, and will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me.”“Anointed let me be with deadly venom, and die ere men can say ‘God save the Queen’”.Ambition also brings fear to citizens. Buckingham’s line “they spake not a word, but like dumb statues or breathing stones star’d each on other, and look’d deadly pale” evidentlyd emonstrates people’s helplessness and fear. Scrivener is a case in point. Though he can sense the danger out of Hastings’ execution, claiming “and yet within these five hours Hastings liv’d, untainted, unexamin’d, free, at liberty”;the line “Who is so gros s that cannot see this palpable device?” directs his helplessness, as well as other common people in the matter. They are not ignorant of the danger but too weak to fight against the evil. Deeming the conflict induced by the death of King Edward an “ill news”, Citizens burst out their dread:“I fear, I fear, ‘twill prove a giddy world.” in Blank Verse, highlighting the seriousness of the subject matter. They are able to see through the political implication of crowning young prince that “the King had virtuous uncles to protect his Grace” by referring to “so stood thestate when Henry the Sixth was crown’d in Paris but at nine months old.” They can also recognize that “full of danger is the Duke of Gloucester, and the Queen’s sons and brothers, haught and prou d”. Yet, their full knowledge of the rotten state only intensifies their fear. In the face of the royal family’s struggle for the throne, they can only “leave it all to God” as their doomed fate. Their regard of the country as “sickly land” and “troublous world” reflects their awareness of the bloody killing. They are so helpless, desperate and vulnerable that “untimely storms”makes men expect a dearth. All may be well; but if God sort it so”. Consequently, such rottenness of society due to the ambition of the upper class leaves them distancing themselves.Ambition leads to fear of oneself as characters use evil means of revenge, betrayal, deception and bloody killings to go for their ambition. Richard as the determined villain makes use of ‘unnatural’ and ‘inhuman’ deeds like t he murder of Clarence to ‘send thy soul to heaven’, the killing of the two York princes, Rivers and Grey to strive for the throne in the ‘weak piping time of peace’. Richard is the ‘hell’s black intelligencer’ who play-acts to deceive and manipulate characters like Hasting, Lady Anna, the Mayor and the citizens. The ‘hunger for revenge’ of Margaret to curse her rivals and Lady Anne’s curse on the hand, the heart, the blood, the wife and the children of Richard hints the wickedness and underlying power of women who are as guilty as the men in the rotten England. Characters in Richard III simply ignore the moral constraints to go against the Christian value and the divine power of God. Through the evil means, they do not deserve what they have and causes the fear of final judgment. Characters struggle with their guilty conscience at the verge of death. The nightmare of Clarence and Richard together with the sleepless nights forebodes their death and reviews their unconscious fear of jud gment of the ‘King of Kings’. With blinded moral value, they fear of going to hell which Clarence put it as ‘such terrible impression made my dream’. The image of hell reflects the guilty conscience of character as ‘the deed you undertake is damnable’. The more evil means they have, the more the fear of final judgment.Evil means of characters to strive for ambition also leads to fear of retribution. The idea of retribution echoes what the Duchess refers to ‘Bloody thou art, Bloody will be thy end’. Characters’ bloody end is a realization of Margaret’s curses that causes fear of the consequences of their acts to make them suffer. The fear is intensified by Margaret’s curses as characters like Hastings and Buckingham recall Margaret foul curses before death. Hastings reflects how ‘Thy heavy curse is lighted on poor Hastings wretched head’ and Buckingham quotes she ‘shall split thy heart with sorrow’ conveys the power of women’s curses as a threat to him and leads to fear of retribution. The triumph of death that clears Richard the other villains in the play proves the idea of retribution mentioned by the Duchess.。