How does Richard use his power to control, or try to control, other in Act 1 Scene 2?
We see here, Lady Anne mourning over King Henry VI, her father-in-law, killed by Richard, and who has also slain her husband. Richard enters the stage, and using his gift of deception and false emotion to a great art, manages to win over Lady Anne, despite her extreme hatred towards him, as shown to us through her language.
Lady Anne and her attendants are on stage mourning over the corpse of King Henry VI which lays in a coffin probably centre stage. The atmosphere on stage is of sorrow and grief but it is then interrupted when Richard limps in and commands the coffin to be set down. At this point Richard seizes the stage and cause the gathering to be in shocked silence, stiff and motionless. That is, all, accept Anne, who responds abruptly showing the audience that she is past caring as she has nothing left to lose. Richard and Anne grab the attention as they converse in tennis-ball dialogue together which is dramatized when King Henry’s wounds start bleeding, with fake blood, probably triggered by the coffin bearers. Then Richard, after winning over Anne, remains on stage after the gathering departs,…show more content… For example, line 19 – Anne refers to ‘wolves’, ‘spiders’ and ‘toads’. We all know that wolves are known in story books as a predator and stirrer of trouble and fear, just like toads are known to be ugly and slimy characters. The illustration of the spider may be due to Richards crutches making him look like a spider with many legs. Then later on in the scene at line 105, Richard is related to a ‘hedgehog’. Coming mainly from Richards deformed being – a hunchback. Hedgehogs are also prickly which could indicate Richards’s character of being sharp and causing others pain and grief. Anne also makes many references to Richard as devilish. She calls him a ‘fiend’, a ‘devil’, a ‘minister of hell’, a ‘foul devil’ and a ‘devilish