Richard III - Hastings Quotes

Question 1

Stupidity, naivety

Answer 1

• ‘chop off his head’, brutal, blunt, doesn’t have to persuade them, callous, casual, important DI
• ‘my good friend Catesby’, imperatives, quick dismissal of threat, structure and DI decrease sympathy for Hastings
• ‘Where he shall see the boar will use us kindly’, confident declarative, link to C, echoes C not trusting dream ‘as kind as snow in harvest’
• ‘I’ll have this crown of mine cut from my shoulders’, amusing, know of plots, DI, decrease sympathy
• ‘And supper too, although thou knowst it not’, Bham delights in H’s naivety
• ‘I thank his grace, I know he loves me well’
• ‘For by his face straight shall you know his heart’, irony + DI, humorous?, contempt for piety?, sympathy?
• ‘deserved death’, emphatic, loyal, ironically foreshadows own death
• ‘Off with his head! Now by Saint Paul I swear’, sudden dramatic accusation and autocratic imperative, piety and brutality, no argument, R’s power

Question 2

Elevates Stanley and shapes our response to him

Answer 2

• ‘I wonder he’s so simple’, ridiculous, link to C see dreams as prophetic
• ‘You may jest on, but by the holy rood, / I do not like these several councils’, DI justified unease, fear correct, wise
• dream and urgent response to it, audience trust him over H

Question 3

Hates Woodvilles and delights in downfall

Answer 3

• ‘more pity that the eagles should be mewed / while kites and buzzards play at liberty’, superior birds locked up while inferior birds fly free, inversion of natural order
• ‘on what occasion God he knows, not I’, unreasonable, illogical
• ‘I am no mourner for that news’, delighting in enemies deaths, unsympathetic, malicious and stupid

Question 4

(Arguable) moment of realisation/wisdom

Answer 4

• ‘Woe, woe for England, not a whit for me’, loyalty to country, less self-centered
• ‘I did scorn and disdain to fly’, recognises own foolishness, prev frustration of audience
• ‘heavy curse / is lighted on poor Hastings’ wretched head’, plaintive, remorse, regret, soft assonance, prev scene ended with people realising M’s curses, foreshadows R’s downfall?, but now shows extent of R’s power