Thursday, January 24, 2013
Spiders and Tigers and Boars -- Oh My!!
The enemies of Richard III -- and there are many of them in this play -- often compare him to an animal. Anne, a widow by Richard's hand (and later his wife) taunts him by saying "Never hung poison on a fouler toad"(1.2.161). Queen Margaret, widow of Henry VI who was also killed by Richard, warns her replacement about him: "Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled spider, / Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about?" (1.3.256-7). Later she warns Buckingham: "O Buckingham, take heed of yonder dog!/Look when he fawns, he bites; and when he bites, / His venom tooth will rankle to the death." (1.3. 308-10). Queen Elizabeth, on hearing that her brother and son have been imprisoned by Glouster, exclaims, "Ah me! I see the ruin of my house. / The tiger now hath seized the gentle hind"(2.4.54-55). What is going on with all these animal metaphors? Is there a pattern? A deeper significance? Is it telling us something important about Richard's character? Or is there an irony her (since it is the language of his enemies)? What is the purpose of animal imagery?
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I feel that the main purpose is to bring some irony to the play as well as show how different Richard is and that he is not actually a human being. The animals mentioned are all animals that bring fear to people. Tigers are large and ferocious and can easily kill, just like Richard has done. A spider can sneak into your house without your knowledge. Richard has done this as well, sneaking into his family’s lives and destroying them. Spiders can also suffocate their prey. I feel Richard has done this to his victims, by not letting them do anything in secret, or do anything that could potentially harm is hunt for the crown.
ReplyDeleteRichard is also referred to a boar in many situations, it also happens to be his symbol on his coat of arms. A boar is thought to symbolize a fierce and hideous creature – just like Richard. This shows that while the animal metaphors seem to be shedding a negative light on Richard, he is more likely embracing it. Richard has always identified himself as an ugly person, just like his first speech in Act I Scene I.
In the very end of the novel, Richmond states
“ The wretched, bloody and usurping boar,
That spoiled your summer fields and fruitful vines,
Swells your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough
In your embowell’ed bosoms – … “ (5.2.7-11)
This speech identifies Richard as a person who has destroyed England just as a boar destroys a fruit field (see picture in book). So, overall, I think the references to the animals are rather ironic, because Richard himself refers to himself as a boar. His enemies refer to Richard as an animal because they believe he has no heart (which he doesn’t) and that he can’t be considered a true human. Richard refers to himself as a boar because it is his symbol and because it suits his deformities. I don’t believe there is a deeper message in the animal metaphors other than to show his lack of emotional ability.
I agree with Kate; I feel that the references to animals, specifically spiders, tigers and boars, don’t have any specific deeper meaning. The main purpose of the name calling is to bring some humor to the otherwise boring history novel. Tigers are large and terrifying predators that can instinctually kill others, just like Richard. To Richard, it is almost instinct to kill to get what he wants. Boars are ugly yet forceful animals and the boar happens to be the symbol on Richard’s coat of arms.
ReplyDeleteRichard tries to seduce Ann right after the death of her husband; but in the process offends her. She tells him, “never hung poison on a fouler toad” (1.2.161). Toads are disgusting creatures that feed on the lives of others, much like Richard’s lust for the crown. Richard is compared to many different animals, all of which shed a negative light on him. To his enemies, these are insults. They are trying to offend him or show others how he is instinctual and primitive in his thinking. Animals don’t think intellectually like humans do. They think solely in the Old Mammalian part of their brain which deals with satisfying instinctual cravings, such as hunger, thirst, sex, and so on. Whereas humans have the New Mammalian brain to help balance the Old Mammalian brain; it helps to rationalize the thinking surrounding one’s instincts. These insults are attacking his logic and thought process as well as his appearance. The boar reference is geared towards his deformities and the tiger reference is mainly criticizing his irrational behavior. Richard wants the crown so badly he devised a plan to kill or have every person standing between him and the crown killed. He knows he is evil and animal-like because he reveals his true character to us as the audience in the opening scene.
“Look when he fawns, he bites; and when he bites,/
ReplyDeletehis venom tooth will rankle to the death./
Have not to do with him. Beware of him./
Sin, death, and hell have set their mark on him./
And all their ministers attend on him” (1.iii.308-13).
This is Queen Margaret’s warning to Buckingham, one of the last victims of Richard’s treachery. She knows, like the other women in the play, of Richard’s villainy.
In the play Richard III, Richard is not a man, but a beast. His deeds mark him as someone marked by the devil just as his outer appearance does so as well. In the above quote, he is compared to a snake. Snakes, especially in Christianity, are viewed as the companion of the devil or even the devil incarnate. It is a snake that lures Eve to pluck the apple from the tree of knowledge and therefore be banished from Eden. Richard is compared to many different dreadful animals throughout the play, but this comparison to a snake is especially intriguing since it links him to the women of the story even more so. Why make such an evil character the center of a play? Why should we care about the snake that entices women and kills beauty?
In Richard III, the ever-treacherous Richard is akin to a snake as he woos Lady Anne in the second scene of the play. Richard entices and lures the virtuous widow in order for her to love him despite his faults. Richard is snake-like in his deception as he works in the shadows. He only wants Anne for the moment. To him, it is a power play to get a beautiful queen to fall for him. Here Anne also invokes yet another creature equivalent to Richard. She calls him, "Never hung poison on a fouler toad"(1.ii.161). Despite knowing his true animalistic nature, she still accepts him. This is one of the more astonishing ideas that is brought about in the play. So many of Richard’s adversaries know and understand that he is evil, but one defining characteristic keeps these characters from acting- they are women. Queen Margaret on another occasion says about Richard,
“from forth the kennel of thy [the Duchess’s] womb hath crept/
a hellhound that doth hunt us all to death-
that dog, that had his teeth before his eyes,
to worry lambs and lap their gentle blood;
that excellent grand tyrant of the earth” (4.iv.49-53).
This quote is yet another example of Richard the villain. Here is compared to a hellhound that kills the innocent. In this case, the innocent are vast. He kills Lady Anne, his two nephews, Clarence, Buckingham, Hastings, among others. Yet, Margaret has no power to curb these killings. The snake strikes the women and renders them inactive. They cannot repel or hinder his power. They are only his pawns.
So, why make a play about this snake? Why should an audience care? Because Richard, who is so seemingly evil and deformed, who murders for his own advancement, who is a beast and not a man, is only these things to an extent. No man is entirely a beast. Richard still has a portion of him that wants to be loved, to be just a man and not a monster. This point lends an irony to all of these comparisons of Richard to animals. Yes, he is a villain, but he also in the end has a conscience. About to face his doom, his conscience sneaks in and he exclaims, “o coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me” (V.iii.191). In every beast, there is a man.
Oftentimes, literary characters are given characteristics of and compared to animals. Sometimes, such references are used to show positive aspects of a person’s behavior. For example, a good, noble man may be compared to a lion or an eagle, because these animals display favorable values like courage, strength, or wisdom. In Richard III, comparisons to animals usually carry a foul meaning, and Richard is nearly always the target. He is often referred to toads, dogs, hogs and spiders. In the first act, as Richard tries to win over Anne by insisting that he loves her more than her husband did, she spits at him in anger, saying, “Never hung poison on a fouler toad” (Act I, Sc. 2:161). Later in the play, Richard’s own mother says to him: “Thou toad, thou toad” (Act IV, Sc. 4:149) when she reproaches him for his vile deeds. Queen Elizabeth similarly says of Richard, “that bottled spider, that foul bunch-backed toad!” (Act IV, Sc. 4:83).Toads are cold, slimy, unpleasant creatures, and spiders are poisonous things which quietly kill their prey. Richard’s comparison to them helps reveal his behavior. Queen Margaret is also aware of Richard’s cruel intentions and calls him “elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog” (Act I, Sc. 3:239). She later warns Buckingham about Richard, saying, “O Buckingham, take heed of / yonder dog! / Look when he fawns, he bites; and when he bites, / His venom tooth will rankle to the death” (Act I, Sc. 3: 7-10). These comparisons point to Richard’s cruelty and malice. Before his battle against Richard, Richmond tells his soldiers that “The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar, / that spoiled your summer fields and fruitful vines, / swills your warm blood like wash” (Act V, Sc. 2: 7-9). Richard, like a pig, rudely stomps through other people’s lives, taking what does not belong to him (like the Crown) and inflicting suffering on those around him.
ReplyDeleteAll these examples describe Richard’s character. The references to foul, disgusting, poisonous animals give deeper insight into Richard’s soul and help readers see Richard the way he really is.