The Importance of Dreams and Metaphors in "Richard III"

Elisa Park

999071123

ENG331H1S

Professor Matthew Sergi

Monday February 17, 2014

The Importance of Dreams and Metaphors in Richard III

Dreams are often used as rhetorical devices in Shakespearean literature. In Brian Carroll’s article about Richard III, he talks about how the visions and dreams used in the play are important for the dramatic action, character establishment and the plot development. He explains how the metaphors are valuable in Shakespeare when comprehending what cannot be understood. In Richard III, Shakespeare uses these rhetorical devices to tell the audience about the evilness and the lack of moral sensibility of the mind. Richard III as a character is described as an important character to these metaphors. This deep analysis of this character has shown how important the title character is, inside and outside of this play. Shakespeare also uses these dreams as a way to build the story. The dreams that Carroll spoke of can be also associated with the supernatural and the myths. The supernatural can be related to the prophecy of the future of the story. Carroll suggests that his analysis applies to the French semiologist Rolan Barthe’s theory of sign, symbol, metaphor and myth. This article centers on both Barthe’s conception of metaphors and what Carroll describes about Shakespeare’s purpose of using rhetorical devices in Richard III.

            He explains that, “Shakespeare deploys dreams and dream worlds as theme and evokes visual representation in the minds of playgoers to generate the story and motivate and even explain characters” (Carroll 29). He explains that Shakespeare shows dreams in order to establish and structuralize plot and character. Dreams are an important symbol in this tragedy as a motif for prophecy. Dreams can mean different things: they can be prophetical or they can be the replay of memories. He uses the dreams as a “structuring metaphor”, meaning that the metaphors have a stronghold in this play (Carroll 29). He explains that the meaning of the dream metaphor is not only for rhetorical uses but for the plot to move forward.

            Carroll explains that Shakespeare uses the dream to shift time, to establish history or to tell of the future. He describes Shakespeare’s use of the dreams, in Barthe’s terms, as a method to show and create the mythic truth. The mythic truth can mean stories that are not necessarily true in reality but are based on the truth of the stories of myths, for example, the stories from Roman mythology. “The roles of dreams in Elizabethan drama as memory and their power as a medium for mythic truth are at the center of this project” (Carroll 30). The dreams that are portrayed in this play serve as a memory for history in remembering the past of Richard III, whether it is real or not. In this play, the dreams are based off of the myths of prophecy.

            The proper use of metaphor is important in Shakespearean literature. Carroll says that “in exploring Shakespeare’s use of metaphor, it is important not to underestimate the value and power of metaphor not only as a rhetorical device but as a way of seeing and relating to the world” (Carroll 30). In understanding metaphor, the audience has to relate their experience to the metaphor presented so that they can be referred and compared to. A very important quote about a metaphor from Carroll is when he talks about what a metaphor truly is. He says that metaphors are not just language but a way of understanding. Carroll talked about the exploration of Shakespeare’s metaphors that relate to the conceptions of time. Since Richard is the play’s only controlling character, the rest of the characters are shown to be moving through time using metaphors. These metaphorical images make it seem they are going through time as a journey and that they fit together. Metaphors do open a way of understanding by structuring ideas, characterization, and actions. They are used “to rationalize the title character’s action,” which holds the ground that by using concrete experience it explains the title character using the ‘subjective imagining’ (Carroll 31). Since Richard III is a historical figure, Shakespeare uses the historical facts and different metaphors to explain about this character. This shows that metaphors can establish a character even with existing features.

            Carroll then goes on a deep analysis on the character of Richard. Richard is the center character in this play. He talks about how “Richard is a symbol of acting, and the play a metaphor of life” (Carroll 32). He then references the famous ‘all the world’s a stage’ speech from the Shakespearean play As You Like It. Carroll describes Richard as the centerpiece of this metaphor. Richard shows his character establishes a relationship with the audience by using the power of illusion to reality. This is the power of image as a metaphor. Richard is described as the only player to be able to communicate to the audience. He establishes this relationship to the point where he has control over people’s dreams. According to Barthe, Richard is an empty signifier, which allows the audience “to fill in the form of the myth of the character, without nuance or ambiguity” (Carroll 33). He describes Richard as a character in contrast to a character from which the audience distinguishes its form and meaning easily, which is interpreted as a representation of a copy.

            Dreams are just as important to the play as to the title character. The dreams of other characters such as Clarence show something other than a myth but a gateway to the illusory real to the truth. The dream that Clarence has “signifies the role of the play in Elizabethan life or the reality of the play world” (Carroll 34). Carroll describes Clarence’s dream as a ‘full signifier’ which is the opposite of what is described of Richard, an empty signifier. Clarence’s dream signifies his own doom and the betrayal that was brought upon him, establishing the full signifier’s role in this play.

            Brian Carroll’s article on Richard III deals with the importance of the metaphors, on the characters and the plot as well. The dreams and visions that were represented through metaphorical images and what importance they had to the character of Richard show Shakespeare’s emphasis on his use of metaphors. Carroll wanted to display and analyze the importance of these metaphors for future plays to come.

           

Works Cited

Carroll, Brian. “Richard as Waking Nightmare: Barthesian Dream, Myth, and Memory in

Shakespeare’s Richard III” Visual Communication Quarterly 20.1 (2013): 28-45. Web.

Shakespeare, William. Peter Holland, Ed. The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. New York:

Penguin Books, 2000. Print