CRITICISM

Alleva, Richard. Review of Richard III. Commonweal 123 (19 April 1996): 18-19.

Review of director Richard Loncraine's film adaptation of Richard III that contends the work offers a fascinating abstract of Shakespeare's drama, but forsakes too many of its original details.

Bridges, Linda. Review of Richard III. National Review 49 (15 September 1997): 80.

Includes a brief comment on a 1997 production of Richard III at Stratford, Ontario. Comparing it with the famous Laurence Olivier film version, the critic finds this stage production truer to Shakespeare's text but less energetic and vibrant.

Brooke, Stopford A. “Richard III.” In On Ten Plays of Shakespeare, 1905. Reprint, pp. 100-26. London: Constable and Company, 1954.

Considers Richard III to be unique among Shakespeare's dramatic works, particularly in its presentation of a completely isolated hero and as the thematic finale to his English historical sequence.

Brooks, Harold F. “Richard III, Unhistorical Amplifications: The Women's Scenes and Seneca.” Modern Language Review 75, no. 4 (October 1980): 721-37.

Argues that similarities can be traced between the four women in Richard III and characters in Seneca's classical drama Troades.

Buhler, Stephen M. “Camp Richard III and the Burdens of (Stage/Film) History.” In Shakespeare, Film, Fin de Siècle, edited by Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona Wray, pp. 40-57. London: Macmillan, 2000.

Appraises Richard Loncraine's film version of Richard III in terms of the postmodern, pop sensibility of “camp,” exploring its preoccupation with eroticism, vulgarity, artifice, and style.

Burton, Dolores M. “Discourse and Decorum in the First Act of Richard III.” Shakespeare Studies 14 (1981): 55-84.

Offers a rhetorical analysis of the early scenes of Richard III, suggesting that Richard demonstrates a gradual mastery of verbal persuasion as the play's first act progresses.

Desens, Marliss C. “Cutting Women Down to Size in the Olivier and Loncraine Films of Richard III.” In Shakespeare Performed: Essays in Honor of R. A. Foakes, edited by Grace Ioppolo, pp. 260-72. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 2000.

Emphasizes the generally negative view of women and female power indicated by the extensive cuts in women's roles undertaken by Laurence Olivier and Richard Loncraine for their film adaptations of Richard III.

Fergusson, Francis. Introduction to The Laurel Shakespeare: “Richard III,” written by William Shakespeare, edited by Francis Fergusson, pp. 7-18. New York: Dell, 1953.

Contains historical background information and a plot analysis of Richard III.

Garber, Marjorie B. “Dream and Plot.” In Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare's ‘Richard III,’ edited by Harold Bloom, pp. 5-14. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Discusses the motif of prophetic dreaming in Richard III.

Hammond, Antony. Introduction to King Richard III, by William Shakespeare, edited by Antony Hammond, pp. 1-119. London: Methuen, 1981.

Concentrates on the characterization of Richard in Richard III, and surveys the drama's structure, themes, imagery, and relationship to the Henry VI plays.

Holland, Norman N. “Richard III.” In Psychoanalysis and Shakespeare, pp. 260-63. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966.

Brief survey of Freudian elements, such as incest motifs, sublimated sexual desires, and dreams, in Richard III.

Lesser, Anton. “Richard of Gloucester in Henry VI and Richard III.” In Players of Shakespeare 3: Further Essays in Shakespearian Performance by Players with the Royal Shakespeare Company, edited by Russell Jackson and Robert Smallwood, pp. 140-59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Describes the nuances of character that Lesser explored while performing Richard in Adrian Noble's 1988 production of Richard III.

Loehlin, James N. “‘Top of the World, Ma’: Richard III and Cinematic Convention.” In Shakespeare, The Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV, and Video, edited by Lynda E. Boose and Richard Burt, pp. 67-79. London: Routledge, 1997.

Study of Richard Loncraine's film adaptation of Richard III that recounts the work's successful exploitation of the celluloid medium.

Neill, Michael. “Shakespeare's Halle of Mirrors: Play, Politics, and Psychology in Richard III.” In Modern Critical Interpretations: William Shakespeare's ‘Richard III,’ edited by Harold Bloom, pp. 15-43. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Investigates patterns of dissimulation, ironic mirroring, and self-division found in both Richard III's internal characterization and the thematic structuring of the play.

Oestreich-Hart, Donna J. “Therefore, Since I Cannot Prove a Lover.” Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 40, no. 2 (spring 2000): 241-60.

Centers on Richard III's character in relation to the courtly love tradition.

Plasse, Marie A. “Corporeality and the Opening of Richard III.” In Entering the Maze: Shakespeare's Art of Beginning, edited by Robert F. Wilson, Jr., pp. 11-25. New York: Peter Lang, 1995.

Evaluates the dramatic “manipulation and destruction of bodies” as a thematic parallel to Richard's increasing political power in Richard III.

Rackin, Phyllis. “History into Tragedy: The Case of Richard III.” In Shakespearean Tragedy and Gender, edited by Shirley Nelson Garner and Madelon Sprengnether, pp. 31-53. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Witnesses Shakespeare's sympathetic depiction of women in Richard III when compared to the preceding Henry VI plays and King John, but finds them likewise disempowered and de-individualized.

Richmond, Hugh M. “Richard III and the Reformation.” Journal of English and Germanic Philology 83, no. 4 (October 1984): 509-21.

Describes the ways in which Shakespeare's portrayal of Richard in Richard III complicates the traditional representation of the morality play Vice figure.

Siemon, James R. “Between the Lines: Bodies/Language/Times.” Shakespeare Studies 29 (2001): 36-43.

Draws on two hundred years of performance history to suggest the significance of theatrical pauses to the stage characterization of Richard III.

Sinyard, Neil. “Shakespeare Meets The Godfather: The Postmodern Populism of Al Pacino's Looking for Richard.” In Shakespeare, Film, Fin de Siècle, edited by Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona Wray, pp. 58-72. London: Macmillan, 2000.

Assesses Al Pacino's efforts to reconnect postmodern audiences with Shakespearean drama in his film Looking for Richard.

Torrey, Michael. “‘The Plain Devil and Dissembling Looks’: Ambivalent Physiognomy and Shakespeare's Richard III.” English Literary Renaissance 30, no. 2 (spring 2000): 123-53.

Studies Richard's deformity in the context of Renaissance books of physiognomy in order to focus on the relationship between external appearance and internal reality presented in Richard III.

Weimann, Robert. “Performance-Game and Representation in Richard III.” In Textual and Theatrical Shakespeare: Questions of Evidence, edited by Edward Pechter, pp. 66-85. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1996.

Probes Shakespeare's use of the morality play tradition of the Vice figure in his characterization of Richard III.

Zamir, Tzachi. “A Case of Unfair Proportions: Philosophy in Literature.” New Literary History 29, no. 3 (summer 1998): 501-20.

Explores Richard's ethical justification for his villainy and vengeance in Richard III.