In Richard III, a morality play by William Shakespeare, the "invincible" characteristic of vice excites the audience by allowing the main character to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks and get away with it. them. The action of Richard wooing Anne launches the plot into an extraordinarily questionable chain of events, while causing Richard's confidence to soar, which shapes his character and emotions. These two elements move the play forward and captivate the audience. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In the scenes preceding the given passage, Richard revealed his quest for the crown and declared that he would stop at nothing to obtain it. He has already imprisoned his brother and declared that he wanted to maliciously legitimize his link to the throne by courting the widowed princess. In a time before the scope of the play, Richard organized the murders of Anne's husband, Edward, and Edward's father, Henry VI. Naturally, Anne feels resentful towards Richard for killing these men. As she enters the scene with Henry VI's coffin, she curses Richard for their murders and prays that any child he has will be sick and that any women he marries will be as unhappy as she - c t's ironic given the turn of events that immediately follows. After Anne curses Richard, he asks her for forgiveness and, when she refuses, he denies killing the men in the first place. He then presents her with his sword, telling her that if she doesn't forgive him, he doesn't want to live at all. As she is about to stab him, he expresses that he killed Edward and Henry out of love for her: "it was your beauty that provoked it." » (I.ii.180). Anne's tone relaxes completely and she miraculously agrees to marry Richard, while he puts the ring on her finger. In Richard's monologue following the proposal, he exclaims his astonishment at having been able to woo Lady Anne despite the circumstances. He wonders who else would be capable of doing such a thing and ridicules the fact that he was able to do it when the corpse of the body he murdered was right in front of her. He boasts that he was able to accomplish this with nothing on his side “except the devil and hidden glances” (I.ii.244). Richard wonders if Anne has already forgotten her wonderful husband and congratulates himself on being able to compete with Edward's royalty. He begins to think that he has always been wrong about himself; there must be something great about him for Anne to feel that way. This dramatic change in Richard's image is essential to his confidence, which drives his character for the rest of the play. Richard's Anne's Charm begins the sequence of inconceivable events, which advances the plot by captivating the audience with disbelief. Richard justifies Hastings' murder to the Lord Mayor by convincing him that Hastings was plotting to kill him all along, and then the Mayor praises Richard's execution of Hastings to the public. Richard maliciously murdered Hastings and ended up with everyone on his side. Later, Richard is able to force the Lord Mayor to beg him to be king, so that the audience thinks that Richard has not established himself on the throne (even though that is exactly what he does) . Towards the end of the play, he announces his intention to marry his niece and kill Anne, his wife whom he courted a few scenes earlier. These two things cause the audience to have dissonance between their plot and morality, and keep the plot moving in unexpected ways. The passage in question denotes a key change in Richard's confidence, which shapes his character for the rest of the play and arguably causes his downfall..