While Audiences in the 17th and 18th century probably knew the history of Princess Elizabeth and Henry of Richmond, the majority of audiences filling theaters to watch Ian McKellan's version of Richard III might not. In McKellan's film version we see Richmond and Elizabeth marry. In the text this union does not occur. While we are accustomed to observing textual omissions in film versions of Shakespeare's plays, here we see instead an addition. In Act IV, Scene IV of the text, Shakespeare implies that King Richard has succeeded in convincing Elizabeth to woo her daughter in his favor. In McKellan's film, the same scene can be equally persuading, but with the film addition of the wedding ceremony many more questions arise. McKellan may be implying that because of the ignorance of todays audiences the active participation of seeing the marital union of Richmond and Elizabeth is necessary. But much more comes of this. By exhibiting Elizabeth's conscious choice to ignore Richard's request, her film character is enhanced in a way that it is absent from the play. Thus, we must search the text and the film to understand how this is done.
It is important first to note the parts of the text which have been omitted in the construction of the dialogue for McKellan's film version. The actual text contains 234 lines of discourse between King Richard and Queen Elizabeth in Act IV, Scene IV. The reproduction of the scene in the film has been shortened to 92 lines, 5 of which come from other acts and scenes in the text. The greatest omission is that of lines 296-316 in which King Richard unfolds the most convincing aspects of his argument. By shortening Richard's speech here, McKellan denies his audience the core of his persuasion. We are thus less easily convinced that Queen Elizabeth has succumbed to Richard's plan.
The film version omits Richard's elaboration on the benefits of making Princess Elizabeth Queen, one of the largest of those benefits being a reunion of her son, The Marquess of Dorset with her daughter Elizabeth and the Yorks. It suggests an ending to this civil war by making York the prominent and royal family once again. The scene between Richard and Elizabeth can be viewed in two ways. It can be deduced that she is persuaded completely by Richard and the text suggests this particular point of view. According to the text, Elizabeth exits the scene never to enter again. Her last words are, "Write to me shortly, And you shall know from me her mind." Because the text has suggested to us that she will woo her daughter in favor of King Richard and also because it is her final exit of the play, as a reader I assume that had Richard not been killed in battle, the plan to woo Princess Elizabeth would have manifested itself. It is, however, quite a shocking scene in the play. It is ghastly that after Richard has killed her brother, her brothers-in-law, and her sons she could be convinced to allow him to marry her only daughter. But his persuasion is tight and consistent with that of his character and power.
McKellan's film version of this scene, however, offers a different perspective. Elizabeth travels through the grime and chaos of war preparations with her daughter at her heals. They are clearly out of their element as they fumble across the train tracks and skirt between horses, soldiers and tanks toward Richard's trailer. Elizabeth, through her tears, cries "Tell me you villain slave! Where are my children?" Both she and her daughter are stopped by guards until Richard calmly announces that he "must have a word with [her]." He signals for her to be brought into his trailer, enters ahead of her, and as she is forced in by an ungentle guard begging safety for her daughter's life, Richard conducts business and paper work with his back to her. His conversation with Elizabeth is nothing more than an important scheme to maintain his new and foully won crown. As he orchestrates plans for his attack against Richmond, he simultaneously orchestrates additional security to the thrown via Elizabeth. She is harsh and unforgiving at first, following him around the trailer, ignoring the villainous smoking traitors that support him and glare at her as she speaks, but, like in the text, she is finally won. Richard signals to his guards to leave them in privacy, gives her a drink, and says:
It is through these words in the film that Elizabeth is won by Richard's power. She sits down calmly across from him after hearing his argument, and asks, "What were I best to say?" If we turned off the film here we would think that McKellan's Elizabeth has been as easily conquered as Shakespeare's, but in fact she is not. The discussion between Richard and Elizabeth continues and she displays a sense of mania as she attempts to grasp at what she is agreeing to. She becomes upset, reminded of her dead children, but Richard is always capable of subduing her with the lure of making her mother to a king. But McKellan adds another layer of persuasion. Unlike the text, Richard cries, in an attempt to quiet Elizabeth, "I know that Richmond aims to wed himself. In her consists my happiness and yours." This does more harm than good to Richard's plans. To me it seems to plant a seed of an idea in Elizabeth's mind. Richard goes on to explain,
Elizabeth is calmed by this. She seemingly agrees to woo young Elizabeth and exits, after having pulled herself from Richard's filthy lips. Richard feels that his persuasion was successful. He stares directly into the camera and calls her a "Relenting fool, and shallow, changing woman!" But Elizabeth runs from the trailer and away from the scene with her daughter held close to her. In the text, because it is her last scene, we can suspect that if she has truly consented to Richard's proposal, there has been no opportunity to follow through with it. In the 17th and 18th century, however, audiences knew the history of the Yorks and Lancasters and thus knew of the marriage between young Elizabeth and Richmond. This historical knowledge made any scene in the play text containing the marriage unnecessary. But in the film, Queen Elizabeth is witness to the marriage of her daughter to Richmond. McKellan transforms her character into a more assertive, acting player. She takes a gamble on the fate of her nation and family by joining forces with Richmond. She stands with Lord Stanley as the Archbishop performs the wedding ceremony. There is a moment of doubt on the Queen's face as she realizes the treason she has committed, but she looks into Stanley's eyes which remind her that it is the only option left. Elizabeth and Stanley represent those who have realized that despite the risk they take (Stanley's son George is endangered by his presence at Richmond's camp), it is the only option they have to protect their homeland from "Death, desolation, ruin, and decay." These were Richard's words. He convinced Elizabeth to woo her daughter by telling her that the demise of her nation can only be avoided by marriage. She, in fact, follows his instructions, but by wedding her daughter to Richmond instead. McKellan, by rearranging the text and carefully selecting the lines to be omitted from the film dialogue, suggest that it is Richard himself, despite his overwhelming power of seduction, that plants the seed of idea in Queen Elizabeth's mind. Elizabeth follows Richard's instructions and does lead her daughter to a "conqueror's bed," but it is Richmond's bed, as Richmond is the conqueror.
(c) 1999 by the author. All rights reserved.